


Manifest

by crazhetalia



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Adventure, Death, F/M, Romance, travelling
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-25
Updated: 2015-03-25
Packaged: 2018-03-19 15:51:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 62,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3615609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazhetalia/pseuds/crazhetalia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three extraordinary demigods find themselves to be a little to extraordinary when they discover they're the hosts to three of the nine Muses and take an epic journey to save the goddesses from oblivion, and themselves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Kori Pov

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: We don't own Percy Jackson and crew, only the OC's in this story and the plot.

"Korinna!" my geometry teacher snapped. I looked up at her ugly rat face, raising an eyebrow.

"In case you didn't know, this is not art class. Quit defacing your text book or you'll have to pay me for a new one." I looked at her dull brown eyes, some of my classmates snickered.

"I'm not defacing anything. It helps me remember. Also I didn't draw anatomically incorrect body parts unlike some of my peers." I shot a glare to the other students who shut up instantly. Mrs. Allen squinted her beady eyes. It looked like she was about to assign me (yet another) detention when the bell rung. I ran out of there quicker than anyone else, breathing a sigh of relief. The only good thing about that class was that it meant art was only 65 minutes away. I swear it's the only thing that gets me through the day. I was almost to the class room when I saw them. It's about the most cliché thing ever, I acknowledge this, but it was the cheerleaders. All blonde, all way too smiley, and absolutely dumb. They've been bothering me ever since I said that competitive cheerleading was a demeaning, objectifying "sport" to women, not that any of them knew what that meant.

"Hey K!" said Angela, wrapping her arm around my shoulder. Her (obviously fake) platinum hair clashed with my dark braid. She smelled crazy bad, which was weird. I figured she was wearing a new, very expensive, perfume from Paris or some other European city.

"You know, you would half-way decent if you washed your hair and tried conditioner." She said in a sickly sweet voice, the other girls laughed and my face began to feel hot. No way was I gonna let them know I was even slightly embarrassed.

"And you would smell a whole lot better if you quit using that perfume. Seriously, is it called Eud de la skunk?" I pinched my nose and pushed her hand off my shoulder. Just before I stepped in to class I heard one of them say "Bitch." I was just about to turn around and give all of them a little more than a piece of my mind when Mrs. Carson, my art teacher, put a hand on my shoulder.

"Come on in Kori, bell's about to ring." I looked at her calming grey eyes, which told me, they're not worth it. I nodded and walked in, greeted with the soft smell of turpentine and clay. It was the most comforting thing ever. Not many kids were in the class, so none of them bothered me. The art room felt like the only safe place for me. I grabbed the canvas I've been working on and started to paint. It was based off a dream I had. It was a half-finished woman, she was making clouds, and soft pinkish wisps swirled from her fingers. I was proud of it, I would probably be done with it by the period ended. Mrs. Carson walked over about half way through class.

"Almost done." I looked over my shoulder and saw her smiling with pride. She had pulled her brown hair into a pony tail that fell over her shoulder and smelled like freshly baked cinnamon rolls.

"I was wondering if you wanted to enter it in the Buffalo young artist's showcase." I almost dropped my brush.

"Yes, yes, oh my God YES!" I yelled, making the other kids look up. But I didn't care.

"Great!" She said with a smile. "I'll grab the entry form at the museum tomorrow. For some reason, they don't believe in computers." She huffed, I smiled at her mock irritation. I wish she was my mom. I have no idea who my biological mom is, or my dad for that matter. I've been bouncing from foster home to foster home since I could remember and was currently living in a group home for "troubled kids". It wasn't too bad though, kind of sucks waiting on the bathroom but that was really it. Some of the kids would pick on me every now and then, but they were all usually too tired to bother, meds can do that to you. I'm probably one of the few kids who didn't have a prescription, as hard as the counselors tried. I sometimes wondered why my parents ditched me, probably teenagers. I decided to not dwell on it and returned to my heavenly canvas.

I actually skipped to study hall, I was so happy. It was the last period of the day, I had finished my painting, and it was going to be hanging in a museum at the end of this month! I don't think I've ever been this happy in a school building. In every school I'd been to, I swear half the teachers were out to get me. I got in my desk as soon as the bell rung. All around me, the other kids were studying for the end of the year finals. They started on Wednesday, I know I should be studying, but I actually felt confident in all my classes, except geometry because seriously! The only people who don't have to worry about it are like geniuses! Plus Mrs. Allen hates me so, any way I'm screwed. The silence was ear-splitting from the stressed students that were sweating over finals, so I grabbed a bathroom pass and excused myself.

I walked over to the sink and splashed water on my face. I looked in the mirror. My braid was messy (nothing new there) and my electric blue eyes were dulled with exhaustion. School drained the life out of me.

"You know there are showers in the locker room, you don't have to use the sink."

I spun around and saw Angela and a tall girl that looked way too old to go here.

"This is the poor girl I told you about. K, this is Mia. She's the cheer team's new assistant coach." She had sandy blonde hair and a really bad spray tan. I hated her already. Her too white teeth and too straight smile creeped me out.

"Aw honey," she had a thick Texan twang, "You missed some dirt." Her fake sympathy pissed me off.

"Oh, wait, those are freckles. Yikes! Hon, I got a lemon juice mix that'll take care of those." Angela smiled, clearly happy at Mia's disdain for me. My face turned hot and the air began to feel heavy. I saw Angela and Mia's hair begin to frizz. Mia's face twisted with malice.

"Angela, go on ahead to the gym. I'm gonna talk to Korinna here about her opinion of the team." Angela looked a bit disappointed, but left the bathroom without a word.

"Now, now Korinna. No need to worry child." She licked her lips as she took a step closer. I backed up against the sink. What the hell was wrong with this lady?

"O how I love demi-god blood," Saliva oozed out of her mouth, which opened to revel twin fangs. "So much sweeter than regular mortals."

"What the he-"I didn't get to finish before she suddenly grabbed me and lifted me from the ground, her finger nails dug into my arms. She was hideous! Her mouth was now filled with broken, yellowed teeth and her skin was pock marked and wrinkled. I screamed in horror and suddenly the lights exploded and showered sparks. Mia looked behind her and hissed, looking for an attacker. While she was distracted I kicked her gut and with a grunt, let me go. I sprinted from the bathroom, hearing an ungodly shriek behind me. I had almost made it to the front door when I was grabbed and thrown backwards. Suddenly Mia was on top of me, holding my wrists with painful strength.

"That was a dirty trick, demi-god. Now hold still, this'll hurt. A lot." She smiled, making some of her spit drip on my face. I kicked and screamed, hoping the lights would blow up again or something when someone tackled Mia, shoving her off me. I sat up and saw Mrs. Carson wrestling with Mia. I couldn't believe it! Mia was on top of her, hissing and shrieking, when Mrs. Carson threw her off.

"Lamia!" She shouted. Lamia smiled.

"Ah, Mary Barnes. It's been a while, daughter of Athena. Didn't expect to see me again did you, sugar?" She charged and Mrs. Carson ducked under her arm and tripped her. Mrs. Carson pulled the chopstick that were in her pony tail out and the suddenly grew into a bronze tipped javelin, and was about to bring the point to Lamia's back when Lamia rolled over and clawed Mrs. Carson's right leg, making her fall. They kept fighting, when suddenly Lamia got a hold of Mrs. Carson's javelin and held her down with her foot. She was about to bring it down when I screamed.

"NO!" A locker door flew off its hinges from behind me and hit Lamia square in the face, sending her flying. I was so mad, I walked towards her.

"Don't. You. EVER. EVER. Touch her AGAIN!" a gust of wind that could have rivaled an F6 tornado pinned Lamia to the wall. I picked up the javelin and threw it at her, as it hit her she screamed and turned to dust which disappeared in the wind. It died down slowly, I was huffing. I looked around and saw papers and locker doors everywhere. I turned to Mrs. Carson, her lip was cut and her eyes were wide with surprise.

"I had my suspicions, but this, oh this…" she said in a hushed tone. I was scared. I just killed a demonic Texan cheerleading coach that wanted to eat me and she just evaporated!

"M-Mrs. Carson. What'd she mean? What was she?" My voice cracked as I looked at my hands.

"What am I?" I whispered. Mrs. Carson limped over to me and put her hands on my shoulders.

"You're a demi-god. I am too. Either your mother or father is a Greek god. From the looks of it, it's your father. You need to get out of here and get to camp. I'll cover for you and see you there in a few days." Her voice was strong and her eyes were calm. My lip quivered and a lump rose in my throat.

"But, I don't know what this is camp or where it is."

"We can take you." I turned around and saw two girls, one of them was wearing a black hoodie with black corkscrew curls tumbling out and the other wore a t-shirt advertising a surf shop, her ash blonde hair had teal stripes and was swept into a ponytail.

"Who are you?"


	2. Saph Pov

Vanessa and I stood a couple feet in front of Mary and the girl she had Iris messaged us about.

I think she's special, like you two. Monsters have been crawling around the school. Don't worry, they're hardly a challenge but I don't want to take any chances. V and I got the next grey hound to Buffalo right after we got the message. Now, two buses and 8 hours later, we were standing in front of a scared 15 year old kid with the most tangled hair I'd ever seen.

"Who are you?" Her voice was shaky. Poor girl, I remember the first day a monster came after me. I was lucky I was with a satyr. We barely made it to the hill, I just turned 13. V appeared in camp the next summer, already claimed and miraculously alive. It was crazy, neither of us were supposed to exist. We've been like sisters since we'd met.

"Calm down sister, I'm Sapphira and this is Vanessa. We're friends." Judging from her stiff body language, she wasn't completely convinced. I looked at Mary and raised my eyebrows,

You give me this to work with? She gave me a look that told me to be patient. Mary looked at the girl with the distractingly wild hair and said,

"I called them. They're like me, like you." The girl turned her head and scoffed

"What am I? A demi-god? Sorry for not being totally accepting of it!" Oh gods, I get it! She wants proof. I gave a sideways glance at V's obsidian eyes and she nodded. I walked over to the water fountain and put my hand on it. The girl looked at me, she had stormy blue eyes and her cheeks and nose were covered in freckles. I looked at the fountain and willed the water to come up. It rose to eye level and formed a ball of water. She gasped, I then willed it to form a horse and it pranced around her head. I let the water drop to the floor, leaving a puddle. I looked at her.

"Believe us now? I'm the daughter of Poseidon, V over there," I said gesturing to her," is Hades' kid." She bit her lip and twisted her tank top. It's a lot to take in in one day, and we still have an 8 hour trip back home that would surely be filled with questions. V was thinking the same exact thing,

"Hey, we need to get going. It's bad enough there's 4 demigods in one place but 2, possibly 3 being kids of the big 3 so we got to leave. Now." She grabbed the girl's wrist, who looked back at Mary. She nodded, and gestured her forward.

"Wait. I need my sketchbook," She said trying to head for a nearby hall, but V held on.

"It's just a sketchbook, you can get another one or have it sent." V dragged her to the front door, anxious to leave and get back to our safe haven. I wanted to get out too, the sulfur smell monsters leave behind gives me a headache. But this girl just wouldn't have it.

"NO! I need my sketchbook!" The air crackled and a sudden gale shoved us into the door. V let go of the kid, rubbing her nose which had hit the metal door.

"What the hell?!" V turned around, looking at a now very pissed off demigod. "Look kid! I don't care about your sketchbook. We are in danger out in the open! Gods! I hate kids!" Probably not the best thing to say to a girl who makes tornados when she's mad, which means she can't control it.

"My name is Kori, not kid! I don't care what you say, I am going to get my sketchbook and you can't stop me!" She stormed down the hall, taking a static-y atmosphere with her. V looked at me,

"We came all the way to Buffalo, for her? She's a brat!" I had to admit I was taken back at Kori's outburst. No one ever talked to V that way, everyone was usually too scared of pissing her off to speak up. But yeah, I had to agree, that girl needed to calm WAY down.

A few minutes later, Kori walked back brandishing a shoulder bag, holding her chin up high. She must be trying to act like she wasn't fazed at all, which she wasn't doing a good job at. V rolled her eyes and huffed out the door. Mary wasn't in the hall anymore, she'd gone to help with the student's evacuation from a "freak tornado". We walked to the bus stop and had to wait a while. V got up from the bench and mumbled that she was going to the vending machine. So Kori and I just sat there. She glared at her feet and didn't say anything. She was seriously getting on my nerves with her angry atmosphere. It was hard to keep in mind what she was feeling. I needed a gesture of goodwill. I dug into my backpack and pulled out a hair brush. I was about to offer it to her when she finally said something.

"What did she mean?" she said still glaring at her sneakers.

"You mean V?" I looked over at her. She looked up, meeting her blue eyes with my green.

"Your parents, or at least one of them, are a god? Like from Hercules or whatever?" I couldn't help it, I laughed my butt off and almost fell off the bench.

"What?" Her face looked like a tomato someone put a sharpie to.

"Nothing, it's just when I found that out who she was, I thought the same exact thing." I reigned my laughter. She gave an awkward smile and looked back at her shoes. The air felt less stressed. I put my hairbrush in her lap.

"Looks like you need this." She picked it up and said a quiet thank you and started to tame her hair. Vanessa walked back with a can of Fanta and a bag of Doritos and gave me a look. We have this sort of secret language communicated through eyebrows. Her look said She ok now? Mine responded Yeah, she's fine.

About an hour later, Kori had a nice, detangled dark waves hanging over her shoulder. She cradled her bag in her like it was the most precious thing on earth, she had her head against the window and I was pretty sure she had passed out 20 minutes ago.

"I wish it wasn't so easy to feel sorry for that brat." V sighed, looking up. Her thick, corkscrew curls fell from the hood of her jacket. I laughed, she never got worked up this much about anyone.

"On the bright side," I said, "We don't have to go through the 'So, you're a demigod' talk for like the 80th time." V put her hands together and mouthed thank you to the floor. I would say sky but, yeah her dad isn't up there. We were quiet for a while. It'd been a long day, and we still had hours to go.

"Why do you think she hasn't been claimed?" I said, the sun setting, making the forest look like it was on fire. V looked at me and shrugged.

"She's 15, almost 16, it's usually 11 or 12."

"Maybe she was forgotten." she said it really quiet, even though Kori was sleeping soundly against the window. Sadly, it was a real possibility. The guys upstairs (or downstairs) could be really forgetful, which sucks. They were supposed to be claiming more of their kids. Granted a lot more kids had begun to flood the camp over the past couple years, but a lot were still forgotten. I was lucky, on my own with a normal family. Usually demigods don't live past 12, especially when their parents are one of the Olympians; we're like a giant signal flare to monsters. Now, V and I were going into our senior years of high school. I can tell you now, my graduation party will have a banner that says "I made it to 18 without being maimed!"

"Yeah, I guess." I didn't feel like talking anymore, I was exhausted. V and I were both college-bound. We'd decided we should go to the same school because I would seriously get lonely without her. Luckily a couple of deans in Manhattan were demigods or legacies so we'd have a good chance of getting in. About 4 hours later we had to switch buses. Kori was hard to get up, jeez, she's like a log! She was back asleep as soon as she sat down in the next bus. It was about 8:30 and I was about to fall over.

"I'll keep an eye out, you go and hit the sack." V knew sleep didn't come easy to me and when it came I had to stop whatever I was doing and just rest. I nodded at her and closed my eyes.

The sky was green and grey, like a hurricane was about to hit the shore. I walked down what only seemed to be a few feet to me but the trees zoomed passed me like I was on a highway. When I stopped I looked around and found I was in a cove, the waves lapped violently on the shore. I turned and saw a group of 9 people. I walked closer and saw they were all women, and they were all beautiful. But they were all frowning, their eyes were empty. An earsplitting crack of thunder shook the ground and lightning flashed. Suddenly, there were only three women, they held each other's hands. One of them turned to me, her eyes were ethereal. They looked like the pictures of space I'd seen in text books, swirling purples, blues and greens. She grabbed my wrist with her thin, white hand. She seemed to age with every second that passed.

"Remember us child. You are all we've got left." Her voice was horse and sounded like an echo. Her grip loosened and suddenly she and the other two women faded. Just poof! The waves suddenly got more violent, the sky threatened to attack. A loud crash of thunder made me wince and I heard someone yell for me. They got closer and closer until they screamed in my ear.

I woke up with start. I turned to V who was no longer in her seat but in the isle, gripping Kori's arm.

"Saph! We gotta scram, now!" People were yelling, getting there baggage from the upper racks. I was about to ask why when suddenly the bus was hit from the right side, making V and Kori fall over. The screaming got louder as people ran, and that's when the bus caught on fire.


	3. V Pov

I'd had it up to my ears with this brat. As soon as Saph had fallen asleep, she'd woken up. So of course the best plan of action was to ignore her, but noooo! She just had to start asking questions. The only Greek mythology she knows is from that Disney movie, as good as it is, and it's extremely inaccurate. I remember when I was a little girl, I went and saw Fantasia at the movie theater. Leave the normal world for a few decades and everything changes! Not that the movies are bad, and holy cow! Women can have the same jobs as men and wear pants and even curse! The nuns at the orphanage never let me do that, so I of course took every opportunity to wear pants and curse. In fact, I was about to use some choice words when the side of the bus got rammed. We skidded on the highway for a second before the driver was able to pull off to the side of the road. People were screaming, trying to get off. I grabbed Kori and shook Saph's shoulder.

"Saph, we have to scram, now!" I yelled just as soon as the bus was hit again. Then it just had to catch on fire. Now people were scrambling like ants. Saph was now fully awake and grabbed her back pack.

"Run!" she yelled. Yeah, like I didn't know that. With Kori in tow, we jumped out the handicap door and ran. We didn't even make it ten feet before whatever made the bus explode came after us. It somehow managed to get in front and we all fell over it. I looked up and saw a snake with long fangs and dragon-esque wings.

"Python!" I yelled, rolling backwards. Saph copied my move with gymnastic grace while Kori fumbled over her feet. Amateur.

"The hell is that?" she screamed, running away from it.

"A python, seriously I just said it." I sneered, she was definitely not the sharpest. I grabbed my leather and wooden bead necklace and gave it a jerk. Instead of breaking, it melted into a dark mahogany bow and a quiver of celestial bronze tipped arrows secured around my torso. I shot three arrows at its thick, scale neck. It hissed, its breath smelled like rotten eggs and slime dripped from its fangs. Saph had her bronze sword in her right hand, sneaking around to get a better shot. We'd been fighting side by side for years, if I had to be stuck in a battle to the death with a hydra, I hope she'd be there. The Python hissed and shot acidic slime from its mouth, I dodged and rolled to the left. Somewhere in the background I heard Kori squeal. I shot another arrow and it hit directly in its eye. It screamed and while it writhed Saph plunged her sword into its side. I thought for sure that it would vaporize and get sucked back into the Tarturus, but it swung its tail and suddenly I was sent flying backwards. I don't exactly remember how it happened, but Saph was next to me helping me up when it hit the both of us, sending us spiraling into a thick oak tree in the roadside forest. It quickly curled its tail around us and we couldn't move.

"Saph!" My head was throbbing, no way would I be able to shadow travel us out.

"Saph!" I turned a little to see her head slumped, she groaned a little. Even though we were in a sucky situation, I was glad. At least she was ok. Well, alive anyways.

"What can I do?!" Kori yelled from about a hundred feet away.

"Nothing! Even with a weapon you've got absolutely no training!" I yelled. The last thing I wanted was this kid near anything sharp and pointy, even if I was being held hostage by a smelly snake. The python hissed and was just about to spit its mucus colored acid when there was a sudden crack and a mailman was standing in front of Kori.

"Ms. Kori?" He glanced at his blackberry. She nodded,

"Yeah, and you are?" she cocked her eyebrow. If my hands were free, I'd of given myself a face palm.

"Hermes, god of messengers, at your service." He said, bowing. Hermes looked to the twin snakes on the antenna.

"George, Martha? Please keep the python occupied until after we leave." They hissed a yes and grew until they were about my size and started "talking" to the python. Ha! The look on her face was priceless!

"So the gods use UPS?" she gave his uniform a quick once over. Hermes laughed,

"When I'm busy, yes. FedEx is terribly unreliable." He placed his palmpre in front of her and she signed it. In a moment, the box was on the ground and Kori was holding two silver rings.

"Uh… what am I supposed to do with these? Couldn't you give me like a machine gun or something?" I mentally smacked her.

"You'll have to figure that out for yourself Korinna. Good luck." And in a flash, he, George, and Martha was gone.

"You idiot! That is the weapon! Put them on and twist them or something!" The python's grip had started to strengthen again. After fumbling around with the rings for a few minutes, she was holding two polished bronze daggers. Great, give the newbie the close range weapon.

"Now what?" she yelled

"Just distract it. Maybe it'll let us go and come after you!" I noticed her face turn red. She ran towards the front of the python.

"No! What are you doing? It'll see you and kill you, you idiot!" I yelled.

"Hey ugly!" The python snapped its neck to see Kori waving her arms.

"Yeah you slime breath! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries!"

That was the dumbest taunt ever! It wasn't even reptile related! I slumped my head in embarrassment for her. We're doomed.

Apparently the python didn't like what she said and hissed. It loosened its grip at least, but it surged forward, baring its fangs as it charged at Kori. She didn't budge.

"Move you idiot!" I yelled, I tried to squirm out of its grip. Kori raised her arm behind her head and threw the knife. It landed right in between its eyes with a sickening thunk, and within milliseconds her other knife was in its snout. It made a noise like helium escaping a balloon before it disintegrated into a sulfurous smelling pile of dust. Saph and I fell to the ground, our weapons now reappeared next to us. I brushed my hair out of my eyes to see Kori pocketing the python's fangs before she walked over.

"Where'd you learn to do that?" I asked, half yelling.

"One of my foster dad's was a green beret. He was told he was unfit to raise an 8 year old girl." Her face had a very satisfied smile. I was a little pissed at her smug attitude.

"Yeah whatever," I mumbled. I turned around and saw Saph lying on her side.

"Hey! You ok?" I turned her over and saw a nasty cut by her temple. She groaned and touched the bleeding cut.

"I have some ambrosia in my bag." Her voice was soft and weak. I grabbed her bag and found one of those metal liquor canteens and opened it up. I raised her head and she took a few sips. The gash had started to heal up before my eyes. Kori was staring in awe. I capped it and stuck the ambrosia back in her drawstring bag.

"She gonna be ok?" Kori asked, kneeling over.

"She'll be fine, she just needs to rest." She nodded and looked up at the cloudy sky. The halo of pale moon light was just visible behind some clouds.

"So, now what? How are we gonna get to that camp?" She asked. I looked back at Saph's bag of goodies and suddenly had an idea.

"We're gonna take a taxi."


	4. Kori Pov

"We're taking a taxi? I don't have any money! Wait, you're not gonna steal one are you?" I said. V snapped her neck, looking quite offended.

"No! I'm not talking about a mortal taxi," She barked, pushing her curly black hair from her face, "and I can't believe you'd say that!" She grumbled while she dug through Saph's bag. She pulled out an old looking gold coin and flipped it onto the highway. Suddenly grey smoke circled from the pavement and a taxi formed. If it were anatomically possible, my chin would be on the ground. V picked Saph up and kicked the passenger door, I'm surprised her boot didn't dent it.

"Hey! Open up!" The door swung open and she, along with Saph, slid in. I stood there, taking in that a freakin yellow taxi had literally appeared out of thin air.

"You coming?" V yelled from the back seat. I took a couple steps and peered into the taxi. The entire interior looked like it was made of swirling grey fog.

"Is this safe?" I asked looking at the drivers, with all that had happened today seeing the three old ladies that shared an eye didn't faze me.

"Mmm, not really." V replied, yanking me in. The door slammed behind me and suddenly we were swerving down the high way at what I was pretty sure was an illegal speed. We sat there in awkward silence. I rubbed the python's fangs with my thumb in my pocket. It was smooth like ivory.

"Hey, um, sorry about the carjacking thing. I didn't think it'd offend you." I said looking over at V. She was quiet for a moment, like she was thinking about how to answer me as sarcastically as possible.

"It's fine." She said really quickly, turning to look out the window. Saph was softly snoring in between us, not the obnoxious kind but the kind that sounds like heavy breathing. We sat there for a few minutes more before V said anything.

"What was that back there?" she asked

"What was what?"

"That thing you said to the python. It was about elderberries and gerbils." She said shaking her head, making her curls swirl wildly around her face.

"It was a hamster," I corrected, "You know, Monty Python? Search for the Holy Grail? The birth of modern comedy?" She gave me a blank face.

"I need to educate you. You'll love it!" I said loudly, making one of the hags turn around and shush me with her withered crooked finger. V chuckled a little bit.

"No… Blackjack doesn't like peanuts…" Saph moaned in her sleep, making both V and I burst out laughing. All three of the grey sisters turned around and shushed us like wrinkled old librarians.

"We're trying to drive! Shut your gabbers!" the driver screeched. We both restrained our laughs when the taxi came to a screeching halt; I hit my face on the cage screen that separated the driver from the passengers.

"Half-blood hill," they said, each taking a word, "now get out." V huffed something about manners and pulled Saph out after unbuckling her seatbelt. I was about to slide out when one of them grabbed my wrist with their boney hand.

"Good luck child. You have a hard road ahead of you, choose your path wisely." Her ancient voice cracked. Before I could say anything else the taxi had peeled off the shoulder and disappeared in a cloud of smoke in the dark night.

"You coming?" V asked for the second time that day. She was standing by a giant pine tree with a now semi-conscious Saph.

"Yeah, yeah I'm coming." I trotted up the steep hill only to see a dragon wrapped around the base of the tree. Right above the dragons head was a shiny gold shag rug.

"Wait, is that the Golden Fleece?" I asked in awe. Saph's eyebrows raised in apparent surprise.

"Yeah, it is. How'd you kno-" Saph was interrupted from someone yelling for her and V.

"Hey guys! Welcome back!" A boy about 18 years old jogged over to us and he was pretty hot. He had broad shoulders that lead down to lean, yet thin, arms. In one hand he held a bow and in the other a flashlight. I had to check to make sure I wasn't drooling.

"This the new kid Mary was talking about?" He stuck his flash light in his pocket and held out a thin, golden hand,

"I'm Troy, son of Apollo, I'm sure this must be a pleasure for you." He had a crooked smile and pearly teeth. I guess I wasn't as smooth as I hoped to be. I heard Saph scoff in the background.

"Yes Troy, she's been waiting her whole life to meet a big headed dunder brain." She smiled and smacked him on his chest with the back of her hand. He rolled his honey colored eyes and put his arm around her shoulder. He was a good head taller that her.

"Aw, don't be jealous sugar," he said jokingly, planting a kiss on her cheek, "There's plenty of me to go around." Saph giggled and pushed his head away, making his russet colored hair shake.

They're totally a couple! I thought. Apparently, V could read minds and shook her head while mouthing the word no.

"Well my lady," he said offering Saph his arm, "Shall we show this newbie around?"

"We shall." Saph said taking his arm cordially. I wanted to grab my sketch book and draw them, they were like a courting renaissance couple. We walked down the hill, following Troy's yellow light. The first thing I saw was a big house with a wraparound porch and a volleyball pit, then we came to the top of the valley. Grand ivory colored Greek columns bordered an even more beautiful courtyard, orange light flickered from bronze torches. At the center of the square was a marble fountain, it gently lapped to the rhythm of chirping crickets. Then there were dozens of diverse looking cabins in the shape of an omega. A beautiful green forest bordered a crystal lake, the moonlight enhanced it's already fairytale look. It was just too much to take in!

"This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." I whispered. V chuckled softly,

"That was my reaction when I first saw this place too." Her voice was soft and wistful.

"Welcome home, Kori."


	5. Saph pov

I loved seeing the look of awe on new camper's faces. I leaned my head against Troy's shoulder,

"Welcome home, Kori."

"Well I'm sure Chiron will wanna talk to her," Troy said. I groaned and rolled my eyes,

"Come on Troy, it's like midnight. It can wait until morning."

"Well technically it is morning." He sassed, the moonlight casted blue shadows into his dimples. I swear this boy will be the death of me. I was about to give him one of my famous come backs when I heard my older brother call my name.

"Saph! Why didn't you come see me first, little sis?" Percy said, striding over to us with his arms open in expectation of a hug. I grinned and accepted the invitation, he smelled like fresh ocean brine. He was a few inches taller than Troy, who was 6 foot, and a half; it was the most serious transgression to him if you ever forgot the half.

"Well we just got here, wait, and why are you awake?" I asked looking up at his face. We had the same green eyes and a few people said nose, but I didn't see that.

"My Jedi mind powers told me you got back in camp." I arched an eyebrow

"It was totally Annabeth, wasn't it?" He and Annabeth had been together for about 7 years now. She had pretty honey colored curls and intimidating grey eyes. When I first came into camp after being claimed, people kept joking that I was what their daughter would look like. It was funny for about a week, after that it was just annoying. I got along with Annabeth ok I guess, but she just kind of rubbed me the wrong way, no offence.

"Yeeaaahhhhh, but hey! It's the thought that counts, right?" He said, tightening his hug. I huffed and rolled my eyes, but was happy to see him. I pulled away and introduced Kori to him.

"Hey nice to meet you. It's always great to have new campers come in. This is a safe haven for people like us so unwind a bit." He said putting his hand on her petite shoulder.

"This place is so awesome!" her voice was hyper and excited, but her eyes said she was exhausted.

"Yeah," Troy said, "We're about to take her to see Chiron." He grabbed Kori's wrist and started walking towards the Big House.

"What? No way! It's like midnight! It can wait until morning!" Percy cried. V cracked up, her deep tea colored eyes twinkled.

"That is exactly what Saph said. Like, word for word." Percy puffed up,

"Well majority vote wins! We'll deal with it first thing after breakfast." He said. V nodded adamantly in agreement. Troy heaved and rolled his almond shaped eyes.

"Fiiinnneeee, but if he gets mad, it's not my fault." Kori looked a little lost and even more tired by the second.

"Hey Troy, will you take Kori to the Hermes cabin? Pleeeaaaaasssseeeeee?" I gave him my best baby seal face. He crumbled like a chocolate turn-over in my hands.

"Oh, you are so lucky I love you." He said rolling his head. Kori looked a little hurt, she probably felt like someone's unwanted chore.

"Just kidding Kori, I'll be happy to take you. Night all!" He linked arms with her and briskly walked away, making Kori trip a couple of times.

"Well I'm pretty tired too Saph, I'm gonna head off. See you in the morning, night Percy." She said giving him a nod as she turned. In a few moments she was walking across the courtyard to her cabin.

"Well, I see it went pretty well," Percy said, "Anything exciting happen?" he put his arm around my shoulder and we started walking to our cabin. Well, I could have gone into the python attack on our Greyhound or my mad diplomatic skills with terrified demigods or the crazy dreams I had on the way here. First with the women on the beach, but the second one scared me. I was standing in the middle of a clearing in the forest that bordered the camp lake. Fog clung to the trees, making everything grey and wispy. I thought I was alone, but then a voice whispered in my ear, " _The daughter of air cometh_ , I'd turn my head, but no one was there, just blurry forest. _Child of the brine, child of the dead, prepare thy houses. Change this way comes._ The voice echoed inside my head before fading into black. I stood there for a few moments, when suddenly a gunshot of thunder crashes in the clearing and a flash of white light sears my vision. After that I woke up dazed with V holding me up.

"Mmmm, Nah." I lied, shaking my head. Percy shrugged

"Well that's boring. Glad you're ok though." I leaned my head against his arm, taking a deep breath.

"Yeah, me too."

The abalone walls shimmered in the morning light making little rainbows reflect onto every surface. I could hear the salt water fountain gurgling softly in the far corner of the room. It was what I woke up to every morning. No dreams, thank gods, I slowly sat up. Percy had just quietly closed the door as I opened my eyes, so that meant the shower was free. I took my sweet time washing my hair before heading up to the pavilion; there was always plenty of food so I wasn't really worried about starving. I slipped on a purple tank top and slipped on my Toms as I walked out the door. I could hear the conversation from 30 feet away. The tables were over flowing with kids, nymphs and satyrs. Used to be kids were confined to sit only with their cabin but now we just sat where ever there was room. Hephaestus' children sat with Apollo's kids while the Ares cabin chit chatted with the children of Nyx. It was great, I can't imagine it any different. V waved her arm from the other side of the way, she had her hair in a messy bun and was wearing the camp's signature t-shirt. Her eyebrows told me to hurry my butt up. I contorted my brow to tell her to calm her taters until I got some waffles. After I poured my syrup I walked over to the grey picnic table and sat down.

"How'd you sleep?" V asked in between bites of bacon. I shrugged and mumbled Ok as I took a bite of waffle.

"Mm," V said downing a swig of coffee, "You know where Kori is? We need to go see Chiron after we eat." I tilted my head up as I scanned the crowd of multicolored heads.

"No, I don't see her anywhere. Maybe she's sleeping in." I shrugged picking up my orange juice.

"We'll check out the Hermes cabin after we're done." V nodded in agreement and went back to her food. On my way to the dirty dishes pile I saw Percy and Annabeth behind one of the columns. Annabeth twisted her hands into Percy's. Bleh, they were being all lovey-dovey. I couldn't tell exactly what they were saying, but their eyes said that I probably didn't want to know.

V was humming some pretty tune when I got outside the pavilion. She was always humming or whistling some made up tune. They were always beautiful though, I waited a minute and listened before approaching her.

"Hey, I've been needing to ask, when's Nico coming back?" V shrugged her shoulders and sighed heavily as we walked down the hill.

"Who knows? He just comes and goes at a whim. He may be coming back with Jason and the others next week but I'm not sure." She looked really lonely, V was more close to Nico than she was with her sister Hazel. Yeah, she and Hazel were tight, but there was a silent bond between Nico and her. I put my arm around her shoulder.

"Hey, he'll come by. He always does." V half smiled and sighed again.

"Yeah, yeah you're right."

A few moments later we were in front of the Hermes cabin. Every cabin had been given a face lift, but this cabin always looked worn out. The rust colored paint was already fading and the caduceus above the door was tarnished and hung crooked. A couple of impish looking campers skipped out the door, as they passed us I could hear their whispering.

"Geez that Carrie kid doesn't know how to take a joke, it was an accident!"

"I think her name is Kayla, Jacob."

"No, it was Kaylee!" They laughed and continued on their merry way. V and I looked at each other before rushing the door.

"Hey Kori," V sang softly, hoping the sweet tune would draw her into the open. The cabin was empty, only unkempt beds and sleeping bags were in sight.

"Kori?" I repeated V's tune, it wasn't as sweet of a melody but I got a response. A little sob came from the closet in the far right corner. Stepping over empty soda cans and crumpled Doritos bags, we made our way to the closet.

"Hey, you ok?" V asked as she turned the dull doorknob. Kori was curled up in a little ball, clutching her bag crying as quietly as she could. Her hair was tangled into a mass rats nest with what looked like mini marshmallows.

"What happened?" I stooped down to her level and brushed part of her bangs from her face, it was hard and tacky and smelled slightly sweet. Her head shot up, her face was red and eyes bloodshot making her blue iris' stand out like neon lights.

"You guys said it was safe here!" She sobbed, her voice cracked.

"Damn Hermes kids..." I heard V growl under her breath. I took a deep breath and tried to restrain myself from going drowning the cabin right then and there.

"Hey hey, they didn't mean to make you upset. Sometimes their antics get out of hand. I'll-"

"NO! You said it was safe! You know, they thought it'd be hilarious to "accidentally" dump their left over hot chocolate on my pillow this morning and they went through my bag! That is NOT ok!" at that she clutched it a little closer. Take a deep breath and count to 10 Sapphira, Chiron's voice echoed in my memory.

"Look," I took a sharp breath and slowly exhaled," I'll talk to the counselor and we can go see Chiron after you get cleaned up."

Her brow furrowed as she stood up. The air began to feel heavy and humid.

"Kori..." She stormed past V, ignoring that V had even said anything and threw the doors hard into the wall I felt the vibrations in the floor. We both ran out the door after her. She was halfway through the courtyard before we caught up. Dark clouds inched their way in front of the sun, making it dark out.

"Kori stop!" V grabbed her wrist and jerked her around. "Where the hell are you going?" Kori fumed and her face contorted.

"Anywhere but here! You said this was a safe place, you lied! This isn't a sanctuary, this is a haven for pickpocketing bullies!" Kori yanked her hand from V's grip. The wind picked up, cooling the summer weather making me shiver. Most of the kids were starting to make a quick trip back to their cabins before the day's activities began, I could see Chiron at the back of the crowd, and his white flank was like a flare signal. Great, I thought, a crowd.

"Kori just calm down, we'll ta-" I was interrupted by Jacob, the Hermes boy from earlier.

"Hey Carrie! Wow, you still haven't washed your hair? Sorry 'bout that again, but hey! Brought you a pop tart."

His lack of tact and common sense was almost impressive. Without warning, Kori screamed and threw her hands up in the air!

"My. Name. Is. NOT. CARRIE!" A tempest suddenly appeared and threw Jacob 40 feet into a column, he crumpled into an orange heap. V ran over to him almost as quickly as he was thrown. He moved his arm a little and moaned as she put a hand on his shoulder. She gave me a thumbs up, the only damage to Jacob would be to his confidence.

"Kori!" I yelled over the gale, which was getting more violent by the moment. The crowd started to split, trying to get away from the psycho chic in the square. But she was getting more angry and hurt.

"Leave me alone! You lied!" she covered her ears; her face was red and tear streaked.

"No, Kori! Listen! I get it! Just calm do-"She screamed again, the sky was almost black and monsoon rain began to pour down and flood the square.

_Daughter of air cometh_

Lighting stuck in a giant circle around her, blinding everyone. It took a couple of blinks but I was able to see normally enough to see everyone's reaction: silence. Scorch marks marred the pristine marble around Kori, making a perfect circle, the rain was still pouring but no one dared to move. Chiron's voice cut through the ear-splitting silence.

"Hail, Korinna Mikos, daughter of Zeus, the sky god."

Slowly, every camper kneeled, not out of respect but fear. So far, she showed everyone she had no control and monstrous powers. Kori whipped her head around, mouth agape. Her head must be spinning just as much as mine was. I got up and tried to walk over to her, but she took off sprinting towards the forest. I didn't stop her; I wanted to run too.

_Prepare thy houses, change this way comes_


	6. V pov

"Hail Korinna Mikos, daughter of Zeus, god of the sky."

I saw Saph's face go white before Kori sprinted out of the square, a few people parted as she ran through, not wanting to touch her. I looked down at Jacob, his blonde hair plastered down around his forehead.

"I- I, she, it was an accident." He stuttered before his voice faded into a whisper. I wanted to punch him for what he did, but I couldn't. I honestly believed him when he said it was an accident. The rain slowly declined into a soft drizzle before stopping completely. The sun came up, making it daylight again. I saw Percy and Annabeth in the front of the crowd, soaking wet and wearing nervous looks. Chiron turned in the back of the crowd and quietly trotted away. There was a lot of work to be done now that a child of one of the big three had been claimed. I turned to call Saph over, but she was striding quickly away, her hands covering her mouth. Probably taking it in that there was another one of us. Looking down I saw Jacob's freckled face wincing in pain. I helped him up and started walking him to the infirmary. I had to support him the entire time.

"You believe me don't you? I really didn't mean to." His dark blue eyes were pleading.

"I do believe you, but it doesn't make you any less stupid." I huffed, not wanting to look at him.

"But-"

"But nothing! You knew she was new, you should have known she'd be scared! Gods! Don't you remember what it was like?" I pushed a heavy wet curl from my face as Jacob sunk into his wet t-shirt. I took a deep breath and calmed down a little bit. Looking back at Jacob I saw his lips were pouting out. He wore a similar look when he came here. His hair was shorter then and had a child's chubby face. He clearly felt terrible.

"Look," we stopped for a second, "You're still a complete idiot, but I know you're sorry." His triangular eyebrows raised in hope.

"But you owe Kori one hell of an apology." He nodded and we started walking again. A couple of feet later, Troy walked out of the infirmary tent and took Jacob from my shoulders. His honey colored eyes were filled with uncertainty, he'd seen Kori being claimed and was trying to wrap his brain around it.

"Yeah I know." I said. His brown hair was starting to dry, his strands were downy and floated as he shook his head. I looked over at Jacob and saw that he had very surprisingly fallen asleep. I raised an eyebrow and pointed at his face.

"Well I'd be tired too if I was thrown into a column by a pissed kid of Zeus." He said quickly, turning on a dime.

"I'll come see you and let you know how he's doing." He trotted into the tent, throwing back the white flap.

Well that's not suspicious, I half thought. I turned and began to walk up the hill to the Big House, I'd seen Chiron retreat inside moments earlier. I figured Saph might be in there, but if not I needed Chiron's permission to go into the forest with a search party for Kori. I hopped up the wooden stairs and walked in through the back door.

"You need to come back, now." Chiron's voice said from the living room. I hid behind the kitchen wall and peered in. He was Iris messaging Jason, who was in California at the time. His face was golden and his hair lighter from the sun's exposure. His eyebrows furrowed, he clearly hadn't heard the news yet. Chiron's grey and white tail swished, hitting the side of the worn flower printed couch.

"Why? I'm coming back next Friday. What happened?" In the background I saw Piper and my sister Hazel walk in and out of frame, not noticing the intense conversation. I hoped Nico would walk by too, I missed him.

"Because, your father just claimed his daughter." It was almost too serious of a scene, like Chiron was some hero in an action movie, responding to an ultimatum. Jason's mouth opened into a little slit and his eyes grew wide before crashing back into seriousness.

"I'll be there in a few hours." He slashed his hand through the misty window and the conversation was over.

"You can come out from the kitchen Vanessa."

Crap! How'd he know I was there? I slowly peeked my head from the kitchen and smiled nervously.

"It's usually frowned upon to drop in on other people's calls." He arched his salt and peppered eyebrow.

"I thought Saph would be here." I said, looking around the cluttered room. The cheetah head on the wall growled at me, I picked up a suspicious looking piece of bologna and threw it at him,

"But I guess not. We need to go out to the woods and find Kori. She could get hurt out there, she's only had one experience with a monster and she got away unhurt out of sheer luck!" Chiron nodded his head and picked up his oak bow from the book-covered coffee table.

"Go get Troy; he's the best Apollo healer. I'll find Sapphira." He trotted to the front door as I turned and back through the kitchen, but I didn't use the door. An inky black curtain shot up in the door frame and I ran through it. Shadow travel was a little scary when you first tried it (and exhausting) but I'd been doing it since I was 8, so it was like second nature to me. I came out in the infirmary tent,

"Troy, we're going to get Kori. Ge-"I skidded to a halt. Troy looked up from Jacob's sleeping body, like he'd been caught stealing. His amber eyes were glowing like embers, and light were coming from his hands, seeping into Jacob's bare back.

"Wha?" I felt the shadow close behind me, sucking in air. Troy's face stopped glowing in a flash, like a candle that had been snuffed out.

"Don't freak out! I can explain, well actually I can't but-"He cut himself off as he skittered away from the cot. My mouth was hanging open.

"You have super healing powers? When did that happen?" I thought back to a couple times when we had played capture the flag where that would have seriously come in handy. He exhaled deeply and ran his hand through his now dry hair.

"I've always had it I guess, but it didn't start doing stuff like this," he gestured to Jacob's rising and falling back, "until a few months, maybe a year, ago. Used to it just helped me. Bruises would disappear in hours and scars would fade in days, but do you remember that one time when that Ares kid fell off the obstacle course?" I nodded, I remembered because that was the first time an Aphrodite kid won the game, like ever.

"Yeah, well by the time we got here he was fine. Shoulder wasn't broke, even the bruises were faded." He threw his arms in the air and ran his hands through his fine hair. He looked at the ground and we stood there for a few minutes.

"Have you told anyone? Saph?" He shook his head, taking a deep breath through his nose. The afternoon light filtered through the canvas, filling the room with warm yellow light and casting dark shadows over Troy's eyes.

"And say what? "Hey guys I have magical hands and glowing eyes that can heal people! Take that Rapunzel!" I don't think so!" That made me frustrated; he didn't even trust his best friend with this!

"Why are you hiding such a great gift? You know how many times we could have used this?" I seethed, grabbing his hand, shaking it.

"What if it stops? What if the one time it doesn't work is when someone is about to die? No! I can't always make it work! I don't want that guilt!" He looked scared and angry. I let go of his wrist, I was still mad but he made a good point.

"Please, please don't tell anyone. Not even Saph." He put his thin, pianist hands on my shoulders.

"Promise me." His yellow eyes pleaded, gods! Saph was rubbing off on him.

"Fine," I huffed, pushing his hands off me, "I won't tell. But you can't keep this a secret forever." His face was washed with relief.

"I'm serious. If you don't tell Chiron or Saph soon, I will. Now come on, we need to find Kori." I hit my shoulder on him as I walked by. I made a black shadow swirl into the entrance of the tent and gestured Troy to follow.

"I hate shadow travel." He groaned, following me reluctantly into the dark.


	7. Kori Pov

"Stupid trees," I growled, whipping my nose with one hand and hitting a fir tree branch with the other. I'd been walking through these woods for an hour

"Now, NOW you come out with it!?" I yelled at the sky, which just echoed my question back at me. I grumbled and kept walking. I tried to cross a creek but slipped on one of the rocks and fell on my butt, somehow I managed to.

"AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" I slapped the water and started crying, again. I was mad that I kept crying and mad that my "dad" just plopped in my life via lightning and didn't even have the decency to tell me face to face and that those kids had rummaged through my bag, which had my only processions in it. Most of all, I was angry that I still didn't know who my mom was. Couldn't she drop a note or be all "Hey Zeus, here's my cell number, please give it to our daughter when you claim her. Thanks!" No! Jack squat! I buried my face in my arms, I just wanted to wallow here in this creek, letting my underwear get soaked. I'm not sure how long I sat there, but cicadas started buzzing and the sun was dipping into the west when I heard someone yell in the distance. I shot my head up and looked where the voice came from.

"This way, I think I heard something!" I didn't bother to process whose voice it was, I jumped out of the water and ran. They were the last people on earth I wanted to see. My clothes were soaked from the creek water; I wished I had remembered my jacket. My tennis shoes were slick and I fell a lot climbing up a rocky hill.

"Kori! Kori, come out!" I think it was V's voice, but I couldn't really tell. I kicked off my tennis shoes and peeled off my socks and shoved them into my bag before jogging up a steep incline. I stopped at the top of the mossy hill and dug my toes into the soft dirt. I heard a twig snap and fell flat onto my stomach to hide. I was expecting Saph and V to burst into the clearing, but it was a boy. He was about 6 foot and had short, blonde hair and was wearing a purple t-shirt. He was maybe in his early twenties; he brandished a polished bronze sword. He wore a serious expression on his face, which was pretty. Not in the girl face was, but like those bronze Greek statues in museums. I wanted to pull out my Prismacolor pencils. He had the most gorgeous blue eyes.

"Jason!" A beautiful Native American young woman burst through the bushes. She had layered dark chocolate hair with scattered braids and tanned skin. She wore just jeans and a t-shirt and looked like she could have walked straight out of an Aeropostle ad. Was everyone here just naturally gorgeous?

"Any luck finding her?" She held a bronze knife in her right hand. They were looking for me? I didn't even know them!

"No, I thought I heard something but she's not here." Some bushes rustled and a twig snapped and both of them ran towards it. When I was sure they were gone I sat up. What was the big deal? Sure, I ran off. But shouldn't they be glad? One less problem child to deal with. I continued walking for a long time, I was starving. I already ate the kit-kat that was in my bag, which my metabolism had blown through in hardly any time. Stupid fast metabolism. The sky was starting to darken, had I really been out here all day?

"Korinna! Korinna!"

Uhg! Can't they just leave me alone?! They were getting closer, and fast. I looked around for a hiding place. The only place to hide was a nearby tree. I'm pretty sure I beat the average squirrel's time shimmying up a tree trunk. Just as I sat on a wide branch, Percy, yet another pretty girl with curly blonde hair and that Jason kid burst onto the scene.

"Kori!" Percy yelled. I felt a twang of guilt hiding from them, but then I remembered this afternoon and I was suddenly glad that I wasn't on the ground.

"Has anyone heard from Piper and the girls?" The girl with princess curls asked. She had stormy grey eyes. The boy known as Jason shook his head.

"No one's seen Korinna. What does she even look like? What if I walk right past her and didn't even know it!" He raked his fingers through his blonde hair. The girl rolled her eyes and gave an exasperated sigh.

"Yes, Jason. You'd walk right past a girl in the middle of our woods at dusk. Totally."

"Annabeth!" Percy scolded. Jason looked a little hurt; it was hard not to laugh at him though. I liked that girl's sass. After a few minutes of bickering, they moved on to another area. I was pretty comfortable where I was so I decided to relax for a bit, my feet were tired and my shorts were still wet and were becoming very, very uncomfortable. I think I must have dozed off for a bit because the next thing I knew it was night time. The violet sky was alive with shining diamonds and it was almost as bright as day with the silvery light from the moon.

Wow, the stars out here are gorgeous. I thought wistfully. Last time I had a good view of the stars was when I lived in a little town on the U.S-Canadian border. It was beautiful out there, but my foster parents were awful. They treated me like some ugly, dirty puppy they took in out of pity to brag about what "wonderful" people they were. I didn't hear anymore yelling, so I guess they quit looking for me. Part of me was a little sad that they stopped searching but the rest of me was relieved. I scooted out more on the limb to get a better view of the sky. I took a deep breath of the sweet night air when I heard a whooshing noise. I jumped back into the cover of the leaves, I almost fell out of the tree! I twisted the silver ring on my finger and a celestial silver dagger appeared in my right hand. Leaning forward, I saw something that looked like a wet sheet of ink on the face of a rock. Then a hand reached out from it! I about wet myself! Could things get any weirder around here!? But then a figure stepped out, the inky sheet dropped like a curtain and disappeared. I scootched a little farther out to get a better look. A boy about my age wearing an aviator jacket stood in the moonlight. He had coal black coarse wavy hair and thick eyebrows. He had a little bit of wiry stubble, somewhere in the back of my mind I wondered if he wasn't Italian. He had a strong jaw line and cupid bow lips. He looked up at the sky and put his hand against an oak tree. He had long, curled eyelashes that protected his glossy obsidian eyes. I itched to pull out my ink set. I scooted closer out as he started walking below where I was hiding. I didn't notice the branch start to crackle until it was too late. The boy heard the little snapping and looked up.

"Wha-" The branch cracked and I screamed as I fell, but I think I hit my head on the way down because I don't remember hitting the ground.

My head was pounding when I woke up. I moved to sit up when I heard someone say

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." I turned my head and immediately regretted it. It felt like someone set my neck on fire. I hissed in between my teeth.

"Told ya'" I opened one of my eyes and saw it was the boy from the woods. I furrowed my eyebrows, he was doing that fake-suave thing guys do to be cool.

"Where am I?" I groaned, sitting up. I was under a toupe and cream colored quilt on a worn leather sofa in a cluttered living room. Grape vines twirled around the walls and I was oddly disturbed that a living room vineyard didn't disturb me.

"You're in the Big house, you shouldn't of ran off. You're lucky I caught you." He leaned forward, crinkling his forehead. His skin looked like it would be olive, but it looked like he and the sun weren't exactly friends. I frowned at him and looked at the coffee table and grabbed a red hardback book at the top of a hefty stack. I opened it and pretended to flip through it. He looked a little confused and opened his mouth to say something when I threw the book at him.

"OW! What was that for?" His voice cracked a little as he grabbed his shoulder.

"Yeah right! You "caught" me." I said with air quotes. His face turned a little pink and lowered his brow.

"Hey! I didn't have to carry you back here! I could have left you!"

"Did you ever think that that's what I wanted?" I said swinging my legs over the edge of the blue couch. I tried to stand up, but felt a wave of nausea and fell back down. The boy rolled his glossy eyes. Yup, everyone here was pretty, even if they're annoying. The boy reached down by his boots and held out a plastic water bottle that had something that looked like apple juice. I raised an eyebrow.

"It's nectar. It'll make your head feel better, you got a bad cut." He pointed to his eyebrow, I touched my face where he pointed and winced. I reluctantly took the nectar from him and unscrewed the cap. I took a swig and almost spat all over the quilt. It tasted like junior mints! The kid snickered a little bit, I shot him a glance.

"No no, I'm not laughing at you. It's just always great to see the first reaction." I took another drink, but he stood up and grabbed the bottle.

"If you drink too much you'll burn to a crisp." I thought he was kidding at first, but his expression said otherwise. So I slowly took the bottle from my lips and gave it back to him. He screwed the cap back on and sat back down in the wingback chair. It was a little awkward.

"So, where's everyone else?" I was honestly expecting a giant lecture when I woke up, not that I wasn't happy.

"Well honestly they're waiting for me to tell them you're awake, be right back." He said standing up, he walked to the front door and before he walked out he turned and said,

"Oh, and don't think about running out. I think you've caused enough trouble for the day." The screen door creaked closed as he walked out. I almost threw another book at him.

"Stupid" I scoffed under my breath as I got up. I needed to get all my stuff together. I checked my pockets and with a sigh of relief felt the python's teeth were still there. I looked around and saw my bag by where the boy had been sitting moments before. I grabbed it and saw my sketchbook right next to it, opened. OH MY GOSH! Are there no boundaries in this place?I picked it up and saw some of the pages were wavy from my slip in the creek. I grumbled and cursed under my breath while tying my shoes. I shoved my sketchbook back into my bag and crept into the next room, it was a kitchen. In the back there was a scuffed, wooden door and I made a mad dash for it. It was still night, probably 8 or 9 so no one was around. I ran down the porch and jumped down the stairs when I felt a pair of hands catch me around the waist and pulled me back onto the porch. But my legs tangled with their jean covered ones and we fell backwards. I hit the back of my head against their nose and heard them yelp. Moaning, I turned around and saw it was the pretty boy. Again.

"You?" I pushed myself back up off of him. He rubbed his nose and cursed under his breath.

"I told you not to run off." He said sitting up.

"Yeah, I don't take direction well. Especially when they go through my stuff." I growled, turning on a dime back to the stairs. He grabbed my wrist though.

"No, you're staying right here until they get here." I couldn't shake my wrist from his grip.

"No! Lemme go!" The air began to feel metallic and heavy. He noticed.

"Oh no, uh uh. You're not gonna shoot any lightning bolts at me, Kori." My face felt hot. How did he know my name?

"How'd you know my name?" I grunted, trying to tug my wrist from his hand.

"First page of your sketchbook." He said a little too calm.

"Oh yeah, you went through my bag you jerk!"

"Hey! I only got it out so it could dry! I was helping you!" He was starting to lose his cool.

"And my name is Nico, just in case you wanted to know." I huffed my bangs out of my face. I've had enough of his attitude. I grunted and kicked him in his shin. He cried out and let go of me to grab his leg. I didn't waste any time and sprinted down the stairs. I thought I'd made it home free when I heard his heavy footsteps behind me. I kicked my speed up and ran harder. I was almost to the front of the camp when he caught be by the strap of my bag. I almost fell on him again! Nico wrapped his free arm around the front of my shoulders (curse tiny body types!) while I flailed my legs wildly.

"Lemme go!" I grunted, there was a roar in my ears and heard the air crackle around us. He started walking backwards to a column and thunder roared and dark clouds rolled in.

"Oh no, not today." I turned my head to see him put his hand on the stark white column and a curtain of black ooze appeared from it. I could hear wind howling and echo- y wails come from it. My eyes grew wide.

"No, No! I am NOT going in there!" a flash of lightning zapped the ground, just inches from us.

"Oh yes you are!" he grunted, pulling me in. It was dark and cold and felt like being stretched in a taffy maker. If the nausea wasn't enough, there was wailing and screaming in the nothingness. It was like shutting off all the lights and projector in a movie theater while a slasher flic was on. The noise stretched and there was a light, like we were coming out of a tunnel. We fell out into the light onto a creaky wooden floor. My head was spinning when I heard someone say,

"Ah, there you two are."


	8. Saph pov

Everything was blurry after Kori ran off.

This isn't happening, this isn't happening... I tried to convince myself, but it was. I left V and everyone else behind in the courtyard. I needed to clear my head, be alone. I walked pass the pockets of whispering campers. I didn't pay attention to what they were saying, but I knew it was about Kori being claimed.

A few moments later I was on the edge of the water warped pier. I took a deep breath of the sun-soaked air; the light made the lake look like it had millions of little twinkling Christmas lights. Then, I jumped off. Little bubbles tickled my stomach and face as I sank to the sandy bottom. Because of my dad, I could breathe underwater and my clothes didn't get wet. Silver minnows skittered in small schools, the light made them look like dancing bullets. Being in water was the most relaxing thing I could ever do to unwind. I closed my eyes and let the under currents play in my hair. I was just about to let sleep sink in when I snapped my head up, scaring the little fish that were swimming around me.

No, no sleeping for you. Reality came crashing back to me. I ran my fingers through my hair. I didn't know who I could talk to about this. If I told Percy, he would freak out and drag me to talk to Chiron and Mr. D. I didn't have that good of a relationship with Annabeth plus I think she'd do the same thing as Percy. Maybe V or Troy, but they wouldn't know what to do either. I took a deep breath and knew I had only one person I could talk to. I swam up to the surface and walked out of the pond, weighed down by uncertainty.

"Can I talk to you, alone? It's important." Rachel smiled, pushing her curly red hair out of her face.

"Yeah, of course you can. Come on in." She let the heavy curtain fall as I walked in to her "art" cave.

"Sorry for the mess," she said, pulling her wild hair into a ponytail, "I had this rad idea for a painting and had to do it." I stepped over open sketchbooks and paint tubes to get to her purple bed.

"So, is this about the claim?" She propped her elbows onto her ripped jeans and looked at me with her alert green eyes. They were different than Percy's and mine, she had a yellow ring around her pupil that exploded like fireworks into her iris. I took a deep breath and began to spill everything. The dream on the bus, the one in the cab.

"The voice said the daughter of air," I bit my fingernails, "and then 24 hours later, poof! " I looked over at Rachel, her face was serious. I sighed and picked at the sharp little angles of the nail that I had just bit to a nub.

"Was there anything that could of lead up to this? Any weird incident?" I shook my head. I mean I was always good at guessing things. Back at home when we played any card games like poker, I always knew when to fold and when to bluff. My step-dad would always joke around saying that I could read minds after he'd lose his stack of chocolate coins. V and Troy would complain whenever we went to movies because I could guess what was going to happen, but I mean come on! It's obvious that the chic that goes into the woods alone is going to die. I looked back at Rachel's face, her copper colored eyebrows furrowed.

"We need to tell Chiron about this. It has to mean something." She said getting up.

"No! Please don't tell anyone!" I put my hands up, pleading.

"I came to you because I could talk to you without having to worry about it! Please! I'll tell him eventually, I just want to figure out what's going on first." She pursed her lips.

"Please." I whispered. Rachel let out an exasperated sigh and rubbed her temples.

"Ok, fine. I won't tell anyone until you're ready." I jumped up and hugged her tightly.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" I said, relieved. Rachel put her hands on my shoulders.

"Now I think you'd better go meet up with V, or else she'll think we're planning world domination without her."

"Sapphira, you, Vanessa and Troy follow the creek south. I'll go north and see if the nymphs have seen her." I nodded and looked to V and Troy. They were standing unusually stiff. I thought it was weird, but shrugged it off. I was probably just too on edge and was seeing things. The midday sun beat down on my neck; the sooner we got to the creek the better. We climbed hills, looked in caves and yelled our voices horse for hours. At around 8, Chiron blew his horn to call us back together. Troy pulled out his flashlight and leaded us the way back. When he had gotten a few feet ahead of us, V tapped my shoulder.

"So where were you earlier?" She arched her eyebrow in a movie star manner. I wondered if she knew how to do that because of when she came from.

"I was talking to Rachel about what happened. Thought maybe she'd have an oracle thing she could do to find her." It wasn't exactly a lie, but I still felt like I'd drank rotten milk for not telling her everything.

"Ah," she nodded her head, her lose curls bounced like black springs, "So you guys weren't planning world domination without me. Good, I would have killed you guys." She swung her bow, knocking a tree branch from our path. I stopped for a second and looked at her.

"Do I really look like someone who would do that or something?" V grinned and linked arms with me.

"What can I say? I make anyone who stands next to me look like trouble." We laughed as we made our way out of the woods. Chiron was standing at the head of a circle. I saw that Jason, Piper and Leo were standing there and wondered when they got back.

"Nothing?" Piper asked as we entered the circle. Troy shook his head.

"She must have left the property." Troy said, sheathing his flashlight into his cargo shorts. Chiron shook his head.

"We would know if she had left. She's in the woods still, but until the sun comes up we won't be able to find her." Then Percy spoke up

"Aren't there any monsters out there? She has no experience what so ever! She could get hurt." I looked over at Jason and saw his face turn white. He hadn't even known he had another sister this morning and now she was missing. Piper put a hand on his shoulder and whispered something too quietly for anyone else to hear.

"No, there hasn't been any training yet this week so the woods are safe." Chiron said, making Jason's shoulders relax a bit.

"We can't do anything until its daylight there isn't much we can do." Chiron's tail flicked, "So everyone should get a good night sleep and we'll search again at dawn." Most of us nodded in agreement and we trudged back to our cabins. I was drained. Yeah I was worried about Kori, but I was completely wiped out. Mentally and physically. Percy and I had just split up from the rest of the group, after he'd given Annabeth a good night kiss (Bleh) when we heard someone yell. I turned around and saw a figure walking towards us.

"Nico!" I heard V cry jubilantly as she ran to him. I started walking closer when I noticed he had something, or rather someone, in his arms.

"I think I found your run-away camper." He said. I rushed over next to V and saw Kori was knocked out and her clothes were damp.

"She was hiding in a tree and fell. She got a nasty cut but she'll be ok." He said, handing her to Chiron. From the way he passed her off, it looked like Kori had landed on him, hurting his shoulder. Not that he would ever admit it. Nico actually had her precious bag on his unhurt shoulder; she would want that back when she came to. V gave Nico a hug and a peck on both cheeks, which he rubbed off with the sleeve of his jacket. I rolled my eyes and grinned, they had this inside joke about European greetings. Jason trotted over to Chiron to take a look at his new found sister.

"She looks like Thalia." He said, taking her from him. I had to admit they looked similar, but I think it was the freckles. We made our way to the Big house where Piper made coffee for everyone.

"Why did she try to leave?" Jason asked me, taking a coffee filled mug that said "#1 centaur" on it. He'd laid Kori down on the couch in the living room while we made our way out to the porch to talk. He was reluctant to leave, but Nico volunteered to baby-sit until she woke up.

"She had a misunderstanding with Jacob and some other Hermes kids." V said, stirring sugar into her cup.

"I talked to them though, it was an accident. She over-reacted." She took a sip.

"Also, wouldn't you want to run after being claimed by your long "lost" father?" Piper chimed in, staring hard at her black coffee. She wasn't so happy when she was first claimed I was told, so she understood. Jason just looked perplexed.

"No, I'd be glad. Now she knows who her, our, father is." Just about everyone put their face into their spare hand. Nothing against Jason, he just has issues with empathy and a lack of common sense.

We were enjoying our coffee when we heard a "YEOW!" come from the back porch followed by running. I stood up so fast, I almost spilled my coffee.

"Well, looks like Kori's awake." Leo said, grinning. Jason had started running to the back door when Chiron stopped him.

"Hold on now. Nico is a resourceful boy." Jason looked less than convinced when a black shadow appeared next to Pipers lawn chair. Seconds later, Nico and Kori tumbled onto the porch. Chiron smiled,

"Ah, there you two are." Nico gave a half wave while Kori stumbled to the porch railing, looking like she was going to barf. V covered her mouth to hide a snicker as she gave me a sidewise glance. She'd never let me forget the first time I had shadow traveled with her.

"Good morning, well evening." Chiron said, clopping over to the railing. Kori, looking a little green looked up and gave him a once over.

"You Chiron?" she asked.

"Are you Chiron," he corrected, "You'll have to excuse me, Korinna. The habits of an English teacher don't die easily." She looked a little surprised that he knew her full name. Jason made his way over cautiously. Chiron pulled Jason over.

"This is Jason, he is also a child of Zeus." Jason swallowed as Kori's eyes became round.

"I have a brother?" She asked quizzically.

"And a sister. Her name's Thalia, she's my sister. Well yours too but we have the same mom and well she's not here but-"

"Ok, Jason. One life changing discovery at a time." V said, finishing her coffee. Jason smiled nervously and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. It was really funny seeing him so uncertain of himself. Aside from Percy, he was the most confident person I knew. Kori exhaled through her teeth and raked her fingers through her hair.

"I know it's a lot to take in in a few seconds." I said stepping closer to Kori.

"I was a little freaked too when I found out I had a brother." Percy made a choking noise and dropped his shoulders.

"Well I was!" I spun my head back over to Kori, "But then I got to know him and it feels like I've known him all my life." Kori looked at Jason and then back at me. Somewhere in the back of my head I remembered a joke Troy had told me once

If you're having a really bad Monday just remember, you're not the guy who has to clean the toilets at Taco bell

That joke didn't seem exactly appropriate at the moment. She took a deep breath and said

"I need some time to think," she turned around and started walking, "Alone."

"Hold on," Jason interjected, making Kori stop, "The last time you were left alone, you tried to run off." I was about to yell at him, but luckily Piper scolded before I opened my mouth.

"Jason!" she said in disbelief. Kori's face went from surprised to angry in about .5 seconds. I knew exactly what she was thinking, You're not the boss of me!

She stepped in front of Jason and slung her bag off and set it on his feet before hopping over the porch railing. Jason opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off.

"Trust me," I said picking up her grey shoulder bag, "She won't be going anywhere." I put the strap in his hand, his shoulder twitched in surprise at the weight.

"What does she have in this thing?" He looked at it with a confused expression.

"A lot of art stuff, but don't look through it." Nico answered. I almost forgot he was here.

"She'll kick you in the shins if you do, right?" Leo asked in his special sassy Leo way, making Nico narrow his eyes. I loved the way he could relieve a serious mood.

"Well, everyone should go to bed now. Except for you, Jason. Tomorrow is going to be very busy and you will need you sleep." Chiron announced with a mischievous glint in his eyes. I groaned making his dark eyes crinkle. We said our good nights and, for the second time that night, headed back to our cabins.

"Hey, you ok? You seem kind of quiet." I looked over at Percy, his eyebrows were slightly furrowed.

Well I knew that Zeus was going to claim another kid and something else, probably life-threatening is going to happen and if I fall asleep I could have another crazy dream, but hey! I could just be going crazy.

"I'm just tired and really hungry." I replied, shrugging.

"Yeah, I could totally go for a cheeseburger right about now." He rubbed his stomach as if hoping a genie would spring from belly with Pizza hut coupons.

"Well I think I'll just steal some of your Twizzlers." I said, making a mad dash to the front door of our cabin.

"Hey! No way! You can have the Swedish fish and m&m's, but don't you dare eat my twizzlers!" He yelled, laughing as he chased after me. After a fake fight and an intense game of rock-paper-scissors, I sat across from Percy on the wooden floor with half of his bag of blue candy.

"You have to tell me how on earth you cheat at rock-paper-scissors." He said taking a swig of Coca Cola. The floor smelled like sandalwood and salt water. I shrugged and took a bite of laughy taffy.

"Guess I can just tell the future."


	9. V pov

Nico and I were the last people to leave the porch. It was a cloudless night and the moon was almost as bright as the sun, bathing everything in a silvery light.

"How's everything been going? I haven't heard from you in weeks!" Nico had grown to be couple inches taller than me since I first got here. We were about the same age, well technically he had just turned 14 but I was born before him. Yeah, confusing, I know. I was in this weird hiatus for about 70 years, give or take a few. He rolled his eyes and pretended to be annoyed; he had a ghost of a grin on his face.

"Oh you know, a little doom and gloom and most of the people were dead. But good I guess." I smiled, I was really glad he was back. He and Hazel were the only familia I had left. He looked older than he really was, must be that Italian in him. A few minutes later we were on our cabins porch. It was painted black and seemed to absorb any light that touched it. Above the doorway was Luna, a white screech owl. She hopped from her perch onto my shoulder and nuzzled her soft, feathery face against my cheek.

"Hey girl," I gently rubbed my cheek on her face. We don't exactly know when she got here, I'm pretty sure she came with the cabin. She cooed before flying from my shoulder to Nico's head, where she started pecking his head. He groaned in irritation.

"Well if you came around more maybe she wouldn't harass you so much." I said shooing her from his nest of black curls. Walking inside the cabin, it shared the same shade of shadow that the exterior had. There were a row of bunk beds that had dark red, almost black, comforters. Except mine. I traded mine out for a lilac one with flower print on it. I also strung up Christmas lights all around the walls. I had tons and tons of pictures plastered to the wall above my bed; my guitar was resting on its stand surrounded by half-finished sheets of music. It was just too black in here. I mean I don't hate the color, but come on! Just because Hades is my dad doesn't mean I'm freakin Goth. Nico looked around; I wondered where he considered home. He was never in one place for very long. I ran into the bathroom and got my sweat pants on and brushed my teeth. When I came back out, Nico was sitting on my bed looking at some of the sheet music that I'd written.

"I still don't know how you can read, much less write, this stuff." I rolled my eyes, I tried to teach him once, but it was a disaster. Not even the Apollo kids could teach him the difference between an A sharp and A flat. I picked up my guitar (I named him George) and sat next to him. He had thrown his jacket on the bed next to mine and his shoes were by the door.

"I never took you for one to follow the mismatched sock trend." I said, playing a G chord. One of his socks was (at least at one point of its sad life) white and the other one was black with a hole where his pinky toe was. He lifted his feet up and wiggled his toes.

"They were the only ones leftover in a Laundromat back in San Diego that would fit me." I shook my head in acceptance, fair enough. I played some of the music on the sheets he was holding, I had them committed to memory. Nico even closed his eyes and swayed a little, though I'm willing to bet it was mostly from exhaustion. He stood up and stretched and said he was going to bed so I put George back up on his stand and turned the lights off.

"Night Nico."

"Good night Vanessa."

I woke up to Luna tapping on the window by my bed. I sat up and looked at her, a little annoyed. She cocked her head to the side and, I swear she somehow smiled, flew off. Who needs an alarm clock when you have an owl? I looked over at Nico, he was sleeping on his stomach with his mouth slightly open. Eh, I'll let him sleep. I crept out of bed and took a quick shower. The sun was barely above the horizon by the time I pulled on my Beatles shirt. I peeked out the door, which creaked way to loudly to be normal; I saw he was still out cold. The only thing that had changed was now his foot was sticking out from underneath the comforter without its sock. I picked up boots and tip toed out the front door that closed like a whisper. Nico was a light sleeper, but luckily I had rather impressive sneaking skills thanks to years of going to midnight movies in Harlem without the nuns being the wiser. I sat down on the porch and pulled my boots on while watching the sunrise. The glowing orange sphere rose steadily into the purple sky. The sun was warm and the breeze was crisp and cool, I took a deep breath of it all. Paradise. I sat there for about a half hour before the other campers, still sleepy eyed, left their cabins to eat breakfast. I decided to follow their lead and heaved myself off the wood steps and walked through the dew covered grass. I decided to swing by Saph's cabin to see if she was awake and if she wasn't, cause a very isolated earthquake under her bed. I peaked in the window and saw a lot of candy wrappers and to sleeping heaps snoring under blankets. I was about to start shaking when I thought of something even better. I made a little portal by the window and stuck just my hand in, which reappeared under Saph's warm back. At first I just poked her, but that wasn't effective enough so I shoved my shoulder in the black curtain and saw her jump out of her bed and fall on her butt. She bolted up and I waved from her bed before sticking my head through the portal.

"Good morning sleeping beauty." I grinned. She clearly didn't appreciate my comedic genius and threw her pillow at my face.

"You bitch!" She laughed, pushing her bed-head out of her eyes; now awake enough to grasp my humor. Percy groaned and rolled over.

"Saph, keep it down, it's too- AHH!" He fell out of bed when he saw me, well my head, growing like a flower out of her mattress. Saph was rolling on the floor laughing while I grinned with triumph.

"Ok, now get dressed girl. I look to weird where I am to stick around." I said, sinking out of the mattress and back outside. I spun around and saw a few of the other kids giving me looks, but quickly moved on when I raised my eyebrow. Minutes later, Saph emerged with a baggy t-shirt and tennis shoes on and we walked to the pavilion.

"Percy said he's going to have nightmares for weeks now." Saph said, pulling her hair into a ponytail.

"Ah, he'll get over it." I said, waving it off. The pavilion was buzzing like every other morning, nymphs whizzed by tables, dropping off platters of fruit. Troy waved and started walking over.

"Good morning ladies, beautiful as usual as I see." He bowed grandly, Saph giggled and I just rolled my eyes and pushed his head back up.

"It's too early for your shenanigans, lover-boy." I said, finding an empty table. Troy and Saph slid in across the table poking at each other. Will they just start going out already? They've been dancing around it since they were 15. We grabbed our food and talked over pancakes.

"So who's ready for capture the flag?" Troy asked, his mouth full.

"You kidding? I'm stoked!" I said, after swallowing my food. Saph set her glass down.

"Wait, that's today?" She asked, narrowing her green eyes a bit. With all that had happened I wasn't too surprised she'd forgotten.

"Well I bet you're excited," She said, shoving Troy to the left with her shoulder. He shoved back, grinning. I saw my window and decided to go for it.

"Yeah, Mr. Incredible field medic. Which lucky team gets your magic touch?" I raised my eyebrow. His face drained of color, but he quickly recovered.

"Well obviously whichever alliance had the better bribe." He shrugged, grinning a little nervously.

"So, my team then?" Saph asked rhetorically. She moved her head a little and stood up.

"I'll be right back." She said, leaving quickly. I turned around and saw she was talking to Rachel. I didn't really care too much what they were talking about, she'd tell me later. I turned my attention back to Troy, who looked a little angry.

"The hell, Vanessa?" His amber eyes flared like fire.

"Why didn't you tell her?" I hissed, leaning over the table. "I gave you the perfect opportunity!" I glared at him.

"I'll tell her when I'm ready!" he spat, leaning back and stared at his syrup covered pancakes.

"O my gods Troy! You're being a coward!" I threw my hands in the air, "She's your best friend! Do you think she'd keep something this big from you?" I asked exasperated. He just stabbed his breakfast with his fork. It was like arguing with a brick wall with this guy! Saph walked back over and plopped back down in her seat.

"What'd I miss?" she asked. I shrugged casually.

"Just a life-changing discovery." At this, Troy promptly stood up and mumbled something about being full and walked off. Saph snapped her neck back to me.

"What's up with him?" She asked, a little hurt he hadn't stuck around for her.

"Who knows."


	10. Kori Pov

"Trust me, she's not going anywhere." I faintly heard Saph from the Big House's porch. I was glad someone trusted me, not that I deserved it after what I did today. Did I really throw that kid into a column this afternoon? It seemed like an eternity ago. I ran my fingers through my hair, which was disgusting after the long day. I didn't notice that I'd walked into a column surrounded clearing. The floor was a smooth, polished marble and in the middle of it was a stone fire pit. Picnic tables were almost haphazardly scattered. I'm pretty sure this was the mess hall, sorta. I looked back down at the floor and saw an ugly scar marred the otherwise perfect marble face. It was thick, filled with slightly lighter cement, and ran a good 30 feet through the entire floor. I walked to the middle of the pavilion and sat on the edge of the stone wall. The red embers were dying slowly, but still gave off enough heat to warm my face. I have a brother and a sister. No matter how many times I told myself, it just wouldn't sink in. I really couldn't believe it. I rubbed my face, what else didn't I know? I hugged my knees to my chest and just sat there. Eventually I heard feet tapping on the marble floor. I turned around and saw Jason walking towards me. Awkwardly, he sat next to me, his back to the dying fire.

"So," He paused and looked up. "How was your day?" He said a little uncertain. I turned to him and gave him my best "Really?" face. He pursed his lips and looked a little pink.

"Yeah, stupid question. Sorry. I'm new to this big brother thing." I swung my legs out so my posture matched his. At least he was trying. We sat there for a few minutes listening to the crickets creak.

"I heard you threw Jacob into a column and you burned the tile in the courtyard." I suddenly felt my face become hot. Somewhere in the back of my head I thought, so that's his name.

"Annabeth is really glad you didn't knock any of the architecture over. She's a bit upset that the marble's scorched, but that's an easy fix." He shrugged.

"How long have you known?" I asked, staring at my hands.

"Known what?" He sounded confused. I was a bit aggravated, what else could I be talking about?

"That the Easter bunny wasn't real." I growled. He looked taken back. I groaned and hid my face in my hands.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bite your head off." I was so tired of being angry.

"I mean how long have you known that Zeus was your dad?" I rubbed the space between my eyes.

"Our dad. Well, I guess ever since I could remember." I snapped my head up and looked at him.

"He's not a terrible father. He takes care of his kids, I mean it's not like he-"

"Great! Dear old dad picks favorites!" I jumped up and looked at him. Everything about him was just, well perfect. He had a clear, scar-less complexion except a small line by his lip. Not a freckle or zit in sight. He looked like one of those models on the side of New York skyscrapers for some product that no one could really afford, but bought anyways. Even his attitude was perfect! He was like the poster child for the Boy Scouts.

"If he's such a great dad, where was he when I was in the system, huh? If he really cared, he would have done something!" I knew it wasn't fair to get upset at him, but I couldn't help it. I bit my lip and sighed. I was tired of this.

"I'm sorry." I turned around and sat on the edge of the marble floor. I looked back up the sky. It seemed sadder and deeper than it had yesterday. I heard footsteps again, but these seemed lighter.

"Let me talk to her." I heard a woman's voice say. I heard the footsteps stop behind me and their knees pop as they sat down next to me. I turned and saw the pretty girl that had been in the woods with Jason. She had deep chocolate hair and long black eyelashes that framed the most beautiful eyes I'd ever seen. They were like the pictures of the Rose window in Notre Dame. They shifted from purple to green to blue and every color in between.

"I'm Piper." She held out a tan slim hand. Slowly, I reached out and shook her hand. But when I touched her, there was a loud snap and her hand flinched.

"I'm sorry!" I shoved my hands into my pockets as my face grew hotter than the embers in the fire pit.

"Hey, it's fine. Sparky over there has shocked me I don't know how many times." She laughed and smiled. I suddenly felt self-conscious about how I looked; she seemed to make looking beautiful look like a breeze.

"I'm Kori." I turned my red face down to my scuffed shoes. Well duh! She already knows your name, stupid! I looked back up at the moon. I wonder if it ever gets sad being so far away from earth.

"I know it's really hard to get a grip on all this." She said softly, her voice was comforting. Like a mom or an older sister. I looked at Piper's face, moonlight drenched her in pale light.

"I was about 15 when I got claimed. My mom's Aphrodite." Well, that makes sense. She didn't seem all stuck up like I imagined Aphrodite's children would be like.

"I was pissed." She explained. I crinkled my brow in confusion.

"You were? Why?" I asked.

"It seemed like some sort of sick joke." She twirled a piece of her hair. "I didn't feel beautiful, I hated being looked at. I went out of my way to blend in." I didn't see how she could. I mean even in torn jeans and a t-shirt, she was gorgeous. Piper scoffed a little, like she was remembering something aggravating.

"Y'know? When I was claimed, she put me in a white dress that showed way too much if you know what I mean. I couldn't even mess my hair up! It was like a Pantene commercial barfed on me." Her eyes crinkled and I laughed. It felt really good.

"So it's ok if you're mad. We'll get through it." She gripped my hand, it felt like a safety tether, keeping me grounded and safe.

"And go easy on Jason," She said, leaning closer. "I know he isn't the most thoughtful-"

"Hey!" I heard him complain in the background, making me smile.

"But he means good and always tries his hardest. It's one of the many reasons I love him." She smiled and looked at Jason; he had a doofy smile on his face. I looked at Piper, then back at Jason, then at her again. She nodded, answering my mental question. She stood up and held her hand out to help me back on to my feet.

"Now I think its past getting late and becoming too early." She said, looking at her plastic wrist watch.

"Are there showers somewhere around here? I feel too gross to sleep yet." I said, scratching my head.

"They're in the cabins, I'll loan you some soap unless you're cool with Old Spice." Piper laughed.

"What's wrong with Old Spice?" Jason said, walking over.

"Nothing, if she doesn't mind smelling like an old man." Piper sassed, gently pushing Jason's shoulder.

A quick trip to the Aphrodite cabin (or Barbie house as I will now call it) and a shower later I was ready to sleep for a month. Piper loaned me a pair of her sweats and a big t-shirt (which smelled suspiciously like Old Spice) until I could wash my clothes. Honestly, the Zeus cabin was creepy. It was creepy knowing a giant statue of your dad was staring at you, watching to make sure you didn't do anything "dishonorable". But despite the scary hippie Zeus statue, I fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow. The sound of rain echoed from the ceiling: perfect for sleeping.

Apparently too perfect for sleeping. I woke up after Jason decided that shocking me on the nose would be brilliant. I tumbled off the cot onto the marble floor, taking my pillow and blanket with me.

"Noooooo," I groaned hiding my head under the pillow, "It's a weekend Momma G." Yeah, I wasn't completely awake. Jason then ripped the blanket from me, ruining my perfect warm cocoon.

"Who's momma G?" I turned over and looked up at him, dang. He was already fully dressed. That's gotta unhealthy.

"Head of the group home I was at. Why are you waking me up so early?" I whined.

"It's 7:50. That's late, don't you want breakfast?" I sat up real fast. I didn't exactly eat yesterday so I would kill for some food.

"I'm in." I got up and started for the door when Jason hooked his finger into the collar of the t-shirt (which I was sure was actually his) and made me stop.

"Piper swung by," he held up a pair of shorts and an orange t-shirt with the name of the camp on it.

"The shorts are hers, but the t-shirt's yours." He said, handing them to me. I ran my hand over the black "Camp Half-blood" logo. Piper's shorts were a little big, but so were a lot of the clothes I owned. But I wasn't going to complain, she didn't have to be nice to me but she chose to. I was glad that to be around people who cared about me despite only knowing me for less than 24 hours. A couple minutes later we were walking to the pavilion we had been in 8 hours earlier. I was really nervous walking in; I mean I pelted everyone with a monsoon just because I got mad yesterday. I really hoped there wouldn't be any hard feelings. I stayed next to Jason and was relieved that no one shot me any dirty looks. In fact a few people waved hi, these people are great! I was just getting out of line for pancakes when I saw Saph and V wave from a table across the room. I smiled and started heading over. I was about halfway there when I stopped on top of the pale scar on the floor. I twisted my mouth and raised an eyebrow. How'd this happen? Almost immediately, I heard a ghost of a click and suddenly the noise of conversation and the campers melted away. First thing I noticed, it was cold. Like, dead of winter cold. The entire place was grey, the sky, the dead trees, everything. I looked in front of me and saw two kids. I gasped when I saw their faces. It was a 13 year old Percy and a little Nico.

"Nico, I tried. But Bianca gave herself up to save the rest of us. I told her not to but she-"

"You promised!" Nico's high pitched boy voice cried, his round brown eyes were tinged red. Percy's round face looked hurt, like Nico had just punched him in the gut.

"I shouldn't have trusted you! You lied to me. My nightmares were right!" Percy's face filled with concern.

"Wait, what nightmares?" Nico grunted and threw a little figurine he was holding across the floor.

"I hate you!" His voice echoed with hate, making the room seem colder. I didn't really hear all they said after that. These 4 bleached skeletons in partial armor appeared. Percy attacked them, but they kept knitting themselves back together.

"Run Nico! Get help!" Percy yelled, getting between Nico and the skeletal attackers. He put his little hands over his ears and yelled.

"No! Go away!" The marble in front of him split open and fire erupted from it. Percy luckily rolled to the side, the creepy skeletons weren't so lucky. The fire engulfed them, making them dance like cheap Halloween decorations in the wind. Then they were gone, the scar was the only thing left. Percy was on his stomach, looking at Nico with scared eyes and an open mouth.

"How did you-"

"Go away! I hate you! I wish you were dead!"

Slowly, the vision faded." I wish you were dead!" echoed in my head as the color came back. I looked up and saw Nico, the 17 year old one, standing in the exact spot his 10 year old self stood. I suddenly didn't feel so hungry. Nico's eyes looked at me with scary intensity, as if he knew exactly what I'd seen.

"Kori?" I whipped around and saw Jacob, the kid I had thrown into the courtyard column yesterday, standing behind me twisting the hem of his shirt.

"Hey, um, I came to say sorry about yesterday. It was really honestly an accident, but I should have been more considerate. So, I'm sorry." His dark blue, almost navy, eyes said he was telling the truth.

"No," I said, startling him, "I'm sorry. I crossed the line, I shouldn't have gotten so angry and thrown you into a column." Jacob nodded sincerely.

"Well hey," he said, sounding bright. "It's not every day you get to fly, even if it ends with running into a hunk of rock." I smiled, feeling relieved.

"Well, I'll catch ya later." I said, turning back around. Jacob waved goodbye and left the pavilion with a group of other kid's form the Hermes cabin. I walked over to where V and Saph were sitting, Nico had joined them while I was talking to Jacob and was sitting next to V.

"Hey, you ok? You zoned out there for a minute." Saph asked as I slid next to her.

"Oh, yeah I'm fine." I said, waving my hand.

"I was just deep in thought." I looked over at Nico, who was finishing off some scrambled eggs.

"Hey," he looked up, "I'm sorry I kicked you in the shin and yelled at you."

"It's fine," he shrugged, "Everyone loses their temper once in a while." He went back to his eggs. V and Saph went back to talking about a capture the flag game that apparently was going to happen later today. Nico and I sat quietly, picking at our food. A question itched in my throat, I kept it quiet until I thought I was going to go crazy. Against my better judgment, I decided to ask.

"Hey Nico." He looked back up, a little annoyed.

"Yeah?" he asked

"Who's Bianca?"


	11. Saph pov

"Who's Bianca?" Kori asked, making Nico drop his fork and turning V's face white.

"What?" Nico said, barely above a whisper. I looked at V, Who's Bianca? I asked silently. Her look remained blanched in surprise. But I knew that meant Later. Nico shoved his plate forward, and stormed off. Well that's the second boy to leave this table in a hurry today.

"What'd I do?" Kori asked, looking to V and me for answers. Answers I didn't have. V's face scrunched in confusion.

"How do you know about Bianca?" She said quietly, looking around to make sure no one could hear her. Color returned to her cheeks, they were nearly as red as her lip stain. Now it was Kori's turn to turn red.

"I-I heard him say something about her last night when he thought I was still out. Is she his girlfriend or something?" I looked at V who sat back and exhaled through her teeth.

"Bianca," she said, pulling her hair into a hair tie," Was Nico's sister. Full blood, they had the same mom."

"What do you mean was his sister?" I'd never heard of her until today. I mean a child of any of the big three was a huge deal. I still hear about some of my siblings and they died hundreds of years ago. V looked down, suddenly engrossed with her boots.

"She died. She actually saved Percy when they were on the quest to find Artemis." I felt cold of a sudden. How could Percy not tell me this? Kori's face went from red to white in seconds.

"Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't know." She said, tugging on her sepia s-shaped waves. V looked back up and gave a half smile.

"Es no problema, chicita. You didn't know." Her voice carried a light Spanish accent. V's comment didn't seem to make Kori feel any better though.

"I'm gonna go. Jason said he'd teach me how to not shock people when I get nervous." She quietly picked up her and Nico's plate and walked off. When she was out of ear shot I looked back at V.

"This happened during the quest for Artemis?" I asked, V nodded.

"Yeah, you mean Percy didn't tell you? It was the reason Nico hated him for years. Nico spent years looking for Bianca in the underworld. But she left." She said, tucking a corkscrew behind her ear.

"No. No, he didn't." I said, feeling miffed. I blew some of my blue colored bangs out of my eyes, only to have them return to their original position.

"Well, I hate to dine and dash, but I need to make sure Nico's ok. I'll see you in the arena." V nodded, picking up her plate and walked off. I sat there, looking at my left over fruit. I remember Percy telling me the story, but he was always vague about who died on that quest. I only knew Zoe's name because she was now a huntress made of stars.

"There she is." Percy pointed out to me one night when I was 14. I'd had a really bad day and he told me stories of his quests to make me feel better. Soon I left the table and went to the arena for sword practice, which Percy just happened to teach. The arena looked more like a track field without any grass or rubber tarmac. Percy stood at the head of a crowd of campers, showing them the proper way to stand in combat. About half the girls were there just to ogle him. It's annoying to have an attractive older brother.

"Hey, Saph!" Percy smiled, and waved. For some reason, that made me furious. Him and his doofy smile and care free attitude. Why didn't he tell me what happened to Bianca? That's a freakin huge deal!

"Come over here and help me show these guys the right way to fight." I tapped my bracelet and it rippled into a bronze sword. The word tsunami, or great wave, was carved into the ricasso in ancient Greek.

"Sure thing, bro." I said through my teeth, giving a fake smile.

"Ok, see how Saph has her front foot pointed towards me and her knees bent?" He pointed to my legs with his sword, Riptide.

"That's so she can make a quick attack and retreat."

"Yeah, like this." I lunged at him; he parried my sword with amazing speed. He gave a wicked grin.

"Well, you guys are in for a treat today." He said, making a cross. We went back and forth for who knows how long. He'd make a cut and I'd dodge. I go in for an attack and he would dance around me. Finally I feinted to the right and hit his wrist with the butt of my sword. He tried to dive for his blade, but I made a sweeping kick, making him fall on his back. In a flash I straddled his waist with the fuller, the flat part of the blade, against his neck. We were both panting hard. The campers behind us were dead silent. Very few people had beat Percy at a spar and they had just witnessed an instant. Percy half coughed/laughed.

"Nice work sis. Now that," He said, grunting to sit up "Is how you fight. Now each of you get a practice sword and a partner. Watch your form!" I rolled off of him and made my sword back into a bracelet.

"Well, that was pretty awesome." Percy said, rubbing his neck. I pouted my lip and kicked the dirt. I was still pissed at him, even after the ghetto stomping I'd just given him.

"Hey what's wrong?" His eyebrows furrowed. I was too mad to tell him anything so I just huffed up and said, "Nothing." and walked off. But of course he just had to follow me.

"No really. What's wrong?" We were in one of the passage ways that lead out of the arena.

"Nothing. Now leave me alone!" The brick walls echoed my anger. When we were at the mouth of the opening Percy grabbed my wrist and looked me in the eye.

"What the heck? What did I do? What's the matter, really?" I snapped my head at him, his eyes looked like an angry sea and I'm sure I looked exactly the same.

"Bianca is the matter. How could you not tell me? She saved you and you don't even bother to tell me! You told me about how Annabeth saved you countless times but not someone who actually gave up their life for you!" I was pissed. I yanked my wrist from him and tried to storm off but he put his hand on my shoulder.

"How'd you find out about her?" I thought back to breakfast when Kori had zoned out then suddenly asked about the forgotten Di Angelo hero.

"It doesn't matter." He took a deep breath and started to explain his reasoning behind his idiocy.

"I don't like to remember it. I tried to convince her not to do it, but it was the only way we could escape. She was the bravest person I knew." Now he grieved for her as a hero? When he was called upon it? We stood there for a few moments, I kept my glare up. Suddenly he gave a crooked smile.

"You know, Annabeth gives me that same look when I do something dumb." Here we go again,

"You two are so alike it's cra-"I had had just enough and I snapped.

"I am nothing like her." I seethed, pushing his hand off my shoulder. His face contorted to match my anger.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I rolled my eyes and walked off, only to have him follow.

"Why don't you like her?" Anger bubbled and I turned on a dime to face him.

"Because, she's a stuck up know it all who thinks she can do anything better than anyone and-"

"Just. Like. You." He paused after each word, each stabbed into my heart.

"I-I just don't like her!" Only later would I feel terrible for saying that. Percy looked like an oncoming hurricane of anger.

"Well you better straighten up real fast, or-"

"Or what? You'll ground me?" I saw some passing by campers stop and watch the oncoming storm. Percy took a deep breath and I saw him mouth the numbers 1-10 to himself.

"Or else the wedding is gonna be real awkward." It was like gravity decided to pick on me because I felt really heavy.

"Wedding?" I saw the observing campers skitter off, surly to tell everyone.

"When did that happen?" I thought the other morning of them behind the column. Another voice answered my question.

"Yesterday morning. We went down to the dock and he popped the question. With all that had happened, we couldn't find a good time to tell you." Annabeth was striding over; she had obviously heard every word of our conversation by the way she looked. I felt seriously self-conscience, like I was at school in my underwear, only worse. She stood next to Percy, interlocking fingers with her ring-clad hand.

"Look, Sapphira, I know it's hard to-" I didn't let Percy finish his sentence, I sprinted away from them. I could feel my face getting hot and my eyes wet. I didn't even know where I was running to, I just ran. I rubbed my face, closing my eyes for only a moment, and ran into something hard. I flew and landed on my butt.

"Oh gods, sorry Saph." It was Troy. Great, he gets to see my ugly crying face.

"Hey," I heard his right knee, his bad knee, pop as he stooped down to get face to face with me. His voice was soft.

"What's wrong?" He gently pushed my bangs out of my face. I looked up, his amber eyes were full of concern. Darn his gorgeous eyes.

"Nothing," I wiped my nose and stood up. Troy lowered his eyebrows in defiance and grabbed my wrist. I didn't bother to shake his grip.

"Where are we going?" I sniffed. He didn't say anything; he just kept walking until we were at the end of the pier at the lake. I wiped my eyes and looked at him quizzically. Troy didn't know how to swim, he despised water. He let go of my wrist and turned his back to the water.

"For a swim." He grinned and fell backwards into what he usually called a death trap without any hesitation. My instincts kicked in and I dove after him and formed an air bubble around us as we sunk to the bottom.

"What the hell, Troy?! You can't swim!" His idiotic tendencies were becoming dangerous and so was my habit of stating the obvious. He leaned back onto the sand floor of our air dome, his eyes glinted mischievously.

"I knew you wouldn't let me drown." My face felt hot, him and his wonderful words that could make you melt like wax.

"You're so dumb." I complained, lying on my back on the soft sand. Troy followed my lead and lied opposite of me so our heads were touching.

"So now that we're alone," he said way too sexy to be taken seriously, making me smile, "You gonna tell me what's wrong?" My happiness was deflated. Reality found way into my hidden sanctuary, so I might as well deal with it.

"Percy and Annabeth are engaged." I said, sinking into the sand.

"That's great!" Troy exclaimed.

"No, it's not great." I huffed, feeling mad again.

"Now wait a sec," Troy tuned and propped himself up.

"What?" I asked, my throat starting to sting again.

"I get you and Annabeth haven't always gotten along, but I know you don't hate her. So what's really the problem?" Behold: Troy Avalon, the world's hottest psychiatrist. I peered through my eyelashes at the swimming minnows.

"I don't want them to forget about me." I whispered. Troy sat up, clearly intrigued.

"What if they get married and leave me? They'll have no room to worry about how I'm doing or feeling. They'll eventually have kids and I'll just be that aunt who gets the awkwardly hug on Christmas." I felt my throat tighten.

"I don't wanna lose my brother." I squinted my eyes and felt hot salt water drip down my face.

"Sapphira Amelia Baker," Troy leaned over my face, his breath smelled like cinnamon gum and was warm on my skin.

"You are the most unforgettable person to ever walk the earth. If you think Percy would ever, ever, leave you behind then you clearly must be a cleverly disguised alien." He brushed my bangs from my face and kissed my forehead, making a warm, comforting feeling travel all the way down to my toes.

"Thanks Troy." I said, nuzzling my face into his arm. I felt safe here, with Troy. Like there was nothing that could ever tear us apart. I felt a poking at my heart and decided to take a leap of faith.

"Hey Troy?" I asked

"Yes, my beautiful girl?"

"Can you keep a secret?"


	12. V pov

"Nico!" I called after my brother. He still got really miffed whenever anyone brought up Bianca. I found him sitting on the roof of our cabin; his long, slightly gangly legs were dangling.

"Hey!" I yelled up from the porch, disturbing his stoic brooding.

"Come down here." He scoffed at my command and rolled out of view. Yeah, real mature Nico.

"You're doing it again." I huffed under my breath. I hate that he does this.

"Doing what?" he said sharply. Good, he heard me. He rolled over so his pale face peered over the gutter.

"Starting a grudge. You know-"

"I know!" He huffed and jumped off the roof. It was known that holding grudges were the fatal flaw of the children of Hades, which I will totally admit. I'm still seething that Sister Myrtle threw my pet frog out the science class window. Who does that?

"But how the Hades did she know about Bianca?" My stomach dropped. Ok, keep you cool.

"Did you say anything about her? Maybe she was half awake the other night when you said something."

"No, nothing." He kicked the stairs, making Luna hoot in protest. Before I could let myself plant a seed of anger against Kori I grabbed Nico's wrist and ran inside. I grabbed George and sat on my bed, Nico looked confused.

"Sit. Now." I pointed to the bed next to me, he sat without saying a word. I started strumming the wires on my guitar. Music always cleared my head, it made me think better.

So why would Kori lie? An a-chord echoed . She's got to have a good reason, I mean yeah she can be more annoying than the Furies, but a liar she is not. I started mumbling, I'm not even sure what I said. I'll just find her and ask her. I'll know if she's lying or not. I stopped playing rather abruptly and looked over at the other bed. I don't think I've ever seen Nico so relaxed while he was awake. He had a soft smile on his face.

"What was that song called?" He asked, leaning forward onto his knees.

"I was just playing some chords." I sat George back in his proper place.

"But the words were pretty. What were you saying? They didn't sound like English." Wait, I didn't say anything. I randomly thought back to when my infatuation with pretty sounding words started. Saph had forced me to watch Lord of the Rings when we were 13. She said that I was deprived and not officially part of this century until I saw it. I barely even noticed I was saying words, let alone that Nico could decipher it.

"Uh, I don't know. I didn't even realize I was doing it." Nico twisted his lips to the side of his face.

"It sounded like Latin or Greek." I shrugged and hopped off the bed.

"Well my awesomeness just keeps on getting better. How do you feel? "

"I'm not mad anymore. It made me remember some stuff that we did before all this," he made a big sweeping gesture to everything, "Happened." I smiled and wrapped my arm around his skinny waist.

"Vamos a palestra. I need to work on my archery." And we walked out of the cabin.

On our way to the stadium we saw Kori and Annabeth sitting in the courtyard on the fountains edge. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the scorch marks had magically disappeared. Kori had a book in her hands and was reading aloud from it with Annabeth looking over her shoulder.

She must be teaching her Greek, I thought with a smile. Back on the bus all Kori had asked me about was what the gods looked like.

"Does Hades really look like a creeper with fire for hair?" At the time I was seriously annoyed, borderline grudging (it's totally a verb), but looking back it was kinda funny. I tried to picture my dad with fiery hair and could only think of an angry blue smurf, so I gave up. From just that conversation, I figured she would need a lot of help in the history department. Without warning, Nico walked over there and interrupted their learning session. Di immortals! What am I going to do with that boy?

"Oh, hey Nico." Annabeth waved her hand, one of her fingers flashed in the sun. Wait, was a ring? Nico had a crush on Percy when he was younger (I suspect it was still lingering), he felt a little awkward around Annabeth still, but she was totally cool about it.

"O, uh, hi." I need to teach this boy how to be smooth, seriously. "So, what are you guys up to?" He said, jamming his hands into his jean pockets. Yup, he's hopeless.

"I'm helping Kori learn Greek, but she hardly needs it." Annabeth whipped her head back to Kori, who's cheeks were tinged pink from the compliment.

"I'm serious. Even I didn't pick it up this fast." She said, smiling. "You even know nearly all the myths." Wait, not on the bus she didn't, unless she was completely b.s-ing me! I decided to stride over and join the conversation.

"Annabeth," I sang, "is that a ring on your finger?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Indeed it is." She said, her smile growing wider.

"When did this happen?" I asked, sliding next to her on the rough stone.

"Yesterday morning, actually. The afternoon was kind of… hectic." She said, trying to be gentile next to Kori, who bit her lip.

"Congrats." Nico said, with a tinge of sadness. Yup, still team Percy. But I knew him well enough to know he was genuinely happy for them though he had a hard time showing it.

"Have you told Saph yet?" I knew Saph didn't exactly get along with Annabeth the entire time. They acted exactly alike which is probably why. But if I ever told her that I'm pretty sure she'd drown me then dance on my grave. Annabeth shifted her weight a little.

"No, not yet. Percy and I are going to tell her when they're done at the arena." She glanced at a sundial,

"Which is actually just about now. Kori, you can go ahead and finish the book if you want. We'll meet up again later." She said, getting up.

"Ok, I'll bring it back without any bends I swear!" Kori smiled and waved to Annabeth.

"She's nice. I like her." Kori said like a little three year old. Nico cleared his throat, making both of our heads snap back to his face.

"Well, would ya look at the time?" Kori said, looking at her naked wrist. "I'm gonna be late for my knife training. Nice seeing you guys, bye!" She said, trying to stiffly walk past Nico.

"Oh no. You're gonna answer some questions first." Nico said, staring daggers at her. Yeah, Nico. Great way to get what you want. She turned around slowly and laughed nervously.

"I never said anything about Bianca. How'd you even know her name?" Nico crossed his arms and Kori was quiet, like she was trying to cover up a lie with another lie.

"Kori, it's ok. You can tell us, you're not in trouble." I said rather musically. Her shoulders relaxed and she took a deep breath.

"You told me." She said, looking at Nico who looked like he was about to burst.

"No, not you-you, your little boy you. Uhg! This is confusing." She retreated back to the fountain next to me, letting the book, The Iliad, balance on her freckle covered knees. She went onto explain that at breakfast she took a little trip to the past without leaving the pavilion.

"I just wanted to know how that mark on the floor got there." She looked up "and poof! Blast from the past. Please tell me that that's normal." She begged, even though she already knew the answer. Nico stood there, motionless with big, brown eyes.

"We need to tell Chiron." I've certainly been saying that a lot lately. But it was really the only right thing to do with all these I-have-superpower incidents. Kori bit her lip and opened her mouth to hopefully agree when Nico interrupted.

"No." I shot my head up at him with lowered eyebrows. My curls bounced against my face.

"What do you mean no?" I asked accusingly. "This isn't like the time when the Stoll brothers t.p'ed our cabin. This is serious."

"No as in not yet." He sat down on the other side of Kori, "It could have just been the memory from it surging. Sometimes, when incidents of strong emotion happen, they leave a mark on the place it happened at." I hated to admit it, but he did have a point.

"Then why did only I see it?" Kori argued. I was happy to admit that she had a very good point. Nico opened his mouth to say something, but closed it when he realized that he had nothing.

"I think that we should still wait. In case if it really is an isolated incident." Nico added in quickly. I looked over at Kori who pursed her lips.

"I want to wait. I just go here and I, I don't wanna mess anything up." I blew a curl from my face.

"Alright. We'll wait." I saw relief wash over Kori's face. I guess I could see her point but I was getting real tired of keeping theses secrets. Troy and now Kori. What's next?

"Uh, can I go now? I wasn't kidding when I said I was going to be late for practice." She said, running her thumbs over the silver rings on her fingers. So we all headed for the stadium, I hoped Saph would be there but neither she nor Percy were there. Maybe he and Annabeth met up to tell her. We all went to our respective areas to train. Kori had some moves for a newb and of course Nico was ripping it up with his Stygian sword. I like to annoy the Apollo cabin by shooting their arrows from their course. It's great seeing their faces. Priceless.

After practice it was lunch. Thank gods. I'm starving! We all grabbed a table and started eating. I looked around for Saph, but she wasn't there. Eventually, I saw Annabeth and Percy walk in Saph-less. Percy's eyebrows were furrowed and Annabeth looked a little down. Clearly the talk didn't go as well as they had hoped.

"Where's Saph?" Kori asked after swallowing a bite of burger. I shrugged,

"Not sure. Probably under the lake from the looks on their faces." I pointed to Annabeth and Percy. She nodded and went back to her food. Nico stared at his half eaten plate, picking it with a fork.

"Nico," I raised an eyebrow. "Finish your plate." He looked over.

"I'm not hungry." He said quietly. He never ate enough, I swear the only thing keeping him on the ground were his clothes.

"Yes you are." I raised my voice an octave. "Now eat." I sounded like a violin that wacked you in the face after you clapped for its performance. He twisted his lips, but started eating again. I saw Kori nod with admiration.

"Oh!" Kori pointed behind me, "There's Saph and Troy." I whipped my head around and saw them walk in. Maybe he finally had the guts to tell her what he could do. We waved them over and they slid in on the benches.

"So, how are you guys doing?" I asked, stabbing my potatoes. Troy looked a little tense and round eyed.

"Fine." Troy said with a nervous smile. Clearly, things were not fine. Saph acted pretty normal as she ate her soup.

"How'd you take the engagement?" Nico asked. His fork clattered on his now empty plate. Saph tugged on a teal streak that fell over her shoulder.

"Yeah, not well. I didn't exactly act like a 'young, mature adult'." She made air quotes. Troy rubbed her back in support.

"Well, I gotta get going." I stood up, picking up my plate. "I'll see you guys at the game." I put my plate up and hid from sight. Now to wait.

About a half hour later Saph separated from Troy. I saw my chance. I walked around to the other side of the pavilion so I was right behind him. I grabbed his waist and stuck a hand over his mouth and pulled him into a shadow. Luckily, no one was around to see me kidnapping him. We reappeared inside of my dark cabin.

"What was that for!?" he yelled as he jerked away. I stuck my hands on my hips defiantly.

"So did you tell her?" he opened his mouth, but nothing came out of it. Of course not.

"Then what happened? Don't say nothing because I know a lie when I hear one."

"I-I can't tell you." He stuttered, rubbing the back of his neck. I opened another shadow, howls radiated from the emptiness.

"How do you feel about the underworld?" He looked between the shadow and I and he caved.

"Something's going on with Saph. She's been… seeing things." I dropped my hand and the portal closed.

"What do you mean seeing things?" I thought back to Kori's experience.

"She's been having, well, I think prophecies." He sat on my bed and covered his mouth.

"I don't believe you." I blurted out, "She would have told me if something like this was happening." Troy took a deep breath.

"She didn't tell you because she's scared. She didn't want to involve any-"

"If she didn't want to involve anyone why did she tell you then?" I yelled. Saph was my best friend, we told each other everything! How could she not tell me?

"V? Are you ok?" He got up and walked over. I took a step back.

"Get out. Now." I didn't mean to sound harsh, but from Troy's hurt look it did. He turned to the door and it clicked quietly as he left. I sat on my bed, stunned. I looked at George. I don't think even he could make me feel better right now.


	13. Kori Pov

About 10 minutes after V left, I left the table with Nico. Well it was more like we just happen to leave at the same time. I'm not sure how much Nico liked me. He just seemed to radiate that feeling that you get when you finally see the monster in those scary movies. I really had nothing else to do so I just followed him.

"Hey Nico." I asked, jogging a little to get up next to him. He looked over his shoulder to answer.

"What was V talking about? What's going on tonight?" Jeez he had long legs!

"Capture the flag. The entire camp splits into 2 teams and the rest is self-explanatory."

"Whose team am I on?" I asked.

"Red. You'll be with my cabin and Troy's. I'm not sure who else is in the blue alliance for this game." He responded quickly. He's really awkward around girls, I can see why. He probably scares all the others off, even with how pretty he is.

"You know, I said I was sorry and I meant it. You don't have to act like I'm that annoying kid who eats nothing but crackers and cheese wiz." He made a coughing noise.

"What was that?" I asked, laughing. He glared from beneath his long eyelashes.

"Hey, sorry." I really wanted to be friends with this guy. He was V's brother and cared enough about me that he almost made me barf trying to get me to stay here. He turned back and started walking even quicker.

"Hey, wait." He took a deep exasperated breath and turned around.

"What?" he raised an eyebrow. I took a deep breath.

"The, uh, the counselor at one of the schools I went to said I have really bad communication skills." His look asked Why should I care?

"So I told him to stuff it and he gave me detention and when the teacher asked why I said that I told him that I said I was working on my communication skills." I blurted out, my face feeling hot. I looked up at his face and saw a smirk on his face.

"You really take direction well, do you?" I took a quiet breath of relief.

"Not even from maps."

I spent the rest of the afternoon getting to know Nico. And by "getting to know" I mean I just followed him around.

"Why are you following me?" He asked at one point.

"I don't know." It was true. He was really the only other person I knew here who wasn't busy plus I just felt comfortable around him. Eventually it was time for capture the flag. Jason was at the armor shed.

"Ready for you first game of capture the flag?" He asked helping me with the strap on my chest plate.

"Uh, I think." I said uncertainly, sliding a Greek bronze helmet onto my head. He chuckled and patted the side of my now protected skull. I think he was trying to reassure me but I got more of a stay by the flag with the people who have big swords vibe from him. I met up with V, clad in her Greek styled armor and armed with her mahogany bow and leather quiver, she looked like an Amazonian princess. Not a very happy princess from her pout she was wearing.

"Everything ok?" I asked picking up a shield. Her dark eyes flashed.

"No, no nothing is ok right now. Stick around at your own risk." She plucked her drawstring, itching to shoot someone.

"Well, I don't wanna get maimed but I don't wanna bother you so I'll just stand here quietly." I rocked on my heels, making her scoff/snicker. The horn sounded and the game was on. I twisted one of my rings and a dagger materialized in my right hand. V and I were in the outer ring of the defense, Nico and Troy had opted for offense so I didn't really know anyone else around us. The shield felt unnatural on my arm, so I dropped it. V looked over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. We stood there for what seemed like forever until there was a distant rustle in some shrubs. V notched an arrow and prowled slowly to the noise. Suddenly, two of the blue teams scouts flew out from the bushes. I mean literally, they flew forward the skyward. I was really confused until I saw Jason. He was hovering above the trees. No fair! He gave a little salute before jetting back into the fray. I had my mouth open when V turned back around.

"He can fly?" I asked, pointing into the twilight sky. V smirked,

"Yeah, you didn't know that?"

"Not fair! I wanna fly too!" No sooner had those words left my mouth did I wish I hadn't said them. In a blink of an eye I was 100 feet in the air, flailing like a fish having an epileptic attack. I yelled, half in awe the other half in wetting my pants.

"Get me down from here!" I yelled, flipping from my back to my stomach. V recovered from the blustery wind and yelled for Jason. I couldn't really hear her but I'm assuming that's what she was doing. I tried to calm down but knowing that you don't know how to control the wind you're floating on sorta throws tranquility out the window even if it was completely gorgeous up here. I looked back down and saw V wasn't there anymore. The wind sent me away from the game. I kept turning, trying to get a grip on the tops of the trees, making my helmet slide off and fall to the ground with a clunk. I heard someone yell, I really hoped that I didn't drop a bronze missile onto one of my team members. Suddenly, V burst through the top of a tree, arrow notched.

"Wait! You're gonna shoot me?" I flapped my arms like a retarded bird.

"No! I'm gonna shoot this past you. Grab the rope" She let it loose, but when I raised my hand another gust of wind sent it straight down into the ground.

"Where's Jason?" I yelled as I slowly rose and went left towards the ocean.

"I don't know! I couldn't find him." She glanced down and smiled.

"Nico!" she waved, "Get up here, hurry!" she said rather musically. Pretty soon Nico was on the branch below her.

"How'd you get up here?" He asked.

"I'm a freakin magical bird. How do you think I got up here?" I did an accidental backflip into a ceder. Nico smiled, clearly happy that karma had attacked. I grabbed onto the top branch and held on to dear life.

"OK, Kori. I'm going to hang onto Nico and I'm going to open a shadow up and grab you. But you need to let go of that branch." She said calmly.

"What?" I squeaked "No!" The wind tugged on my shoes.

"Just calm down, all you need to do is focus. Just think about staying right there. You can do it." I pursed my lips, if V had confidence in me it had to be worth something. I took a deep breath and prayed I wouldn't fly to my death.

"Ok, you ready?" I looked over and saw V open a screaming portal. Yup. That's reassuring. I closed my eyes and let go. I thought about just hovering there. I felt a hand grab my shoulder straps and yank me forward. One short visit through the taffy machine of terror later I opened my eyes and was very happy to find myself in a pine tree. Nico furrowed his eyebrows.

"Wait, so it was your helmet that hit Troy?" Oops.

"He deserved it." V said with a smug look on her face. In the distance a horn sounded.

"Game over. Now let's get down from here and figure out who won." V said as she lowered herself down. I don't think I ever appreciated dirt any more than I did at that moment. Then (of course) Jason came running through the bushes.

"Well," V said shaking her helmet off, "you missed all the fun." She stuck a hand on her cocked hip.

"Sorry! I just got the message." He walked over to me and stuck his hands on my shoulders.

"Are you ok?" He looked at my arms like a paranoid doctor.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Will you teach me how to fly?" I smiled. Jason laughed,

"Yeah sure. But how did you get that high? I could barely get off the ground when I first tried." I shrugged.

"Maybe she's just full of hot air." Nico said under his breath, which I promptly answered to by kicking him in the back of the knee.

"Hey!" he complained. V had a wicked smile.

"You deserved it." Yes! One for team Kori! We started walking back to the post-game meeting spot and came across a dried up creek. I slowed down, the creek pebbles crunched under my feet. Then woosh! It was daytime. I saw a blonde teenager brandished with a sword with a long scar running down his face standing over a little kid with black hair. The blond boy smiled.

"See ya later, Percy." Jeez that boy's been through a lot! Then the tall kid walked off into the woods and the vision began to fade like dust in the wind.

"Kori?" Jason's voice echoed.

"Huh?" I turned my head slowly over to him.

"You ok?" I looked at V and Nico. She had a look that told me that we were going to march straight over to Chiron when this was all over.

"Oh, yeah I'm fine. I just zone out sometimes. Now come on, I wanna know who won." I brushed past them. Turned out that we won (YES!) but I may have given Troy a minor concussion. So after a very inspiring speech from Chiron about how we all did great and deserved a good night sleep he dismissed us. V grabbed my wrist and dragged me up to Chiron's white flank.

"Yes Vanessa?" He asked, slinging his bow onto his back. I noticed Saph walking over as well. She wasn't looking so good, like she was going to barf.

"Kori's been seeing stuff. She knew about Bianca and she just had another episode." I opened my mouth to protest but her look said don't even try.

"Is this true Korinna?" I nodded my head and explained to him what I had just seen. He scratched his scraggly brown beard and was about to say something when Saph fell over.

"Saph!" V ran over and sat her up, but when she opened her eyes, they were a deep violet and were glowing. When she opened her mouth, lavender light filtered through her skin and her voice was soft, but raspy. Like decaying leaves

"The time comes for the daughters of knowledge to rise or to fall. Tread softly young heroes. Save us and you save yourselves." Her glowing aura faded softly and Saph's head slumped. V looked up as though she'd seen a ghost.

"Chiron what just happened?" Her voice was steady, but her fear was obvious.

He trotted over to V and Saph and took her from V's arms.

"The Big House, now."


	14. Saph pov

I woke up in the big house on the leather couch. The last thing I remembered was feeling like I was gonna puke after my team lost capture the flag.

"Saph!" I looked over and saw Troy walk in from the kitchen, smiling.

"Hey guys she's up!" he yelled into the kitchen before walking in. He sat at the edge of the couch and patted my leg.

"How are you feeling?" his eyes filled with concern.

"I feel absolutely fine, why?" Chiron trotted in followed by Mr. D, V, and Kori.

"You mean you don't remember anything?" Kori asked. I looked over at V. She had her arms crossed but her face was anxious. I thought back to when I was walking towards Chiron and was about to say something when I heard a voice.

Sapphira

I yelled and fell off the couch. Troy rushed over and sat me up.

"Who said that?" I turned and looked around the room. Mr. D made a face before making a diet coke appear in his hand.

"I swear I'm not crazy!"

Of course you're not. Calm down child.

"Ah, Urania. Nice to hear from you." Mr. D said, taking a sip from his coke can.

"Wha-" then something really weird happened. It was like I took a back seat in my own body. It looked like I was wearing purple glasses.

"Dionysus, pleasure." The voice in my head answered, using my mouth. I saw Troy jump back, V's eyes widened as she dropped her arms and Kori covered her mouth.

"I though you guys had died out." He said casually, like he was saying he thought I had gone to the grocery store.

"That is why I am here. I haven't much time. If I stay awake for much longer, this girl will turn to ash."

Wait, WHAT? Uh uh, no. Someone get an axe, there's a goddess in my head!

"Sapphira is hosting my sleeping conscience. Those two," I/she pointed to V and Kori, "are hosting my sisters." Both V and Kori's jaws went slack.

"No way! Then why aren't we all like you?" V gestured to her/me. Gods this was confusing! The voice giggled sadly.

"Someone had to give notice to you. If you children don't release us, we will take over your psyche. You will cease to exist and that is only if your bodies can handle the transition." I felt like someone had dropped a bomb into my stomach. I wanted to scream and cry and yell.

"H-how are we supposed to do that?" Kori managed to stutter. Urania chuckled.

"Sweet Korinna, you must go to Mount Helicon-"

"The home of the muses." Kori interrupted, "But that's in Greece."

"Yes child. My sister Clio has blessed you. You host her in the depths of your conscience. Vanessa, you hold the gifts of Euterpe. Your words and songs are sweeter than honey and hold more power than you realize."

V picked at her black Beatles shirt, refusing to make eye contact.

"You must travel to Mount Helicon. Go to the Valley of the Muses. Find our sanctuary and go to the alter."

"Sounds pretty easy if you ask me." Troy said, trying to lighten the mood. I shook my head, as Saph, as me.

"The journey will be perilous. I have foreseen that you, Troy Avalon, shall join them. Along with the son of Hades and a child of Hermes. He should be here momentarily." And right on cue, Jacob tumbled through the kitchen door.

"You called?" He said, looking to Chiron. He raised an eyebrow, but didn't question.

"What's up with Saph?" He took a few steps into the living room.

"Oh, nothing. She's just hosting a dead goddess. Oh, and wouldn't ya know it. So are Kori and I!" V yelled, gesturing with her arms. Jacob's face turned white, his freckles were the only color on his cheeks.

"Listen here, child of Hades. Fate has dealt you with a grand hand. But it is by your will you use your gifts. You leave at first light. However, you must not enter the path of Greece through the pillars of Heracles. I must sleep now." And like that, Urania fell back asleep and I was put back into the driver's seat. Chiron's tail swished nervously.

"What did she mean that we're not taking the water route? What other way can we go?" Troy asked. I gripped his hand. Kori's eyes flashed, literally. They turned a gold color and glowed.

"Bristol. First to Bristol, then London." Her voice sounded like hers so luckily she was still herself.

"Then what?" I asked. Her eyes stopped glowing and returned to their normal blue color.

"That's all she said. She'll tell us more later. She said that we would have too much trouble if we went the way the 7 went." Years earlier my brother and 6 others traveled to Greece to defeat Gaea. He told me how awful the trip was. I nodded in agreement. V bit her lip.

"Nico won't go. He said he'd had enough of Greece for a life time." Kori tugged her hair nervously.

"But he has to. Urania said. She's the muse of astronomy and was said could tell the future from the stars so it will happen." V lowered her eyebrows and nodded, though she wasn't convinced.

"Who's gonna tell Percy?" I asked. I totally forgot about him. He was gonna freak! It was like the Trojan war just letting him let me and V go to Buffalo on our own.

"I'll tell Percy and Jason." Chiron said as he dug one of his hooves into the Persian rug. Kori nodded in thanks. The front door creaked open and Nico stepped through.

"I brought someone." He announced and Mary stepped inside, she had wrapped her ankle and had a crutch under her right arm.

"Mrs. Carson!" Kori squealed and ran to her. She laughed and hugged Kori with her free arm.

"Hi, Kori. It's good to see you too. I heard you were claimed." Kori nodded, but refused to let go of her. Mary looked up and saw everyone's solemn expression.

"What'd I miss?" she asked confused. Chiron filled her in as Mr. D lounged in a chair. Mary kept a protective arm around Kori, like a worried mother. I noticed Nico looking at his feet after hearing that he had been specifically named to go.

"You're letting 6 teenagers go to Greece without any supervision?" Those teacher attitudes stick around even when school's out. Yippee.

"We have no choice Mary and you know that." Chiron said gently. She didn't look convinced and tightened her grip around Kori.

"Mrs. Carson, we have to go. We'll be back here soon." Kori gave Mary a big puppy eyed look. She sighed and kissed her head.

"I suppose that means you all should get to bed then." She said.

"Yes, you have a big day tomorrow. You'll need all the sleep you can get." Chiron agreed and sent us to our cabins. But before we actually walked out the door Chiron stopped us.

"Oh and girls. Tell Percy and Jason that I'd like to see them." I swallowed and nodded. I walked out and caught up with V.

"Hey V, um, I'm sorry I didn't talk to about what was going on." She didn't look at me.

"Um, V? I know you're mad but-"

"Hell yeah I'm mad! I'm pissed!" She trudged on. I hurried to catch up.

"I'm sorry! I was scared, I didn't know what was going on and-"

"That's exactly why you should have told me!" she spat and disappeared through an inky curtain. I stood there for a few seconds, shocked. The cicadas buzzed in the background, making me feel even lonelier. I was kinda in a haze. I walked into the cabin, gave Percy a hug, and then got ready for bed. I was exhausted by the time I hit the pillow and was about to fall asleep when the cabin door opened. Percy's footsteps were slow and heavy as he walked over to my bed. He rubbed my shoulder and sat down on his bed.

"I know that you're probably asleep, but I gotta say a few things. I know you aren't exactly best friends with Annabeth, but she cares about you. You need to come back safe and sound, ok?" He sighed and the springs in the mattress goaned.

"Come back home safe."


	15. V pov

Nico was sitting on my bed with George on his lap when I came out on the other side of the jump. He was trying to play him, but he just made dying weasel noises when he plucked the chords. He scowled, hoping he could intimidate him into playing sweet tunes.

"What are you doing?" I strode over.

"How do you make this thing work?" He asked angrily, the copper wires screeched making me wince. He huffed angrily before tossing George at the foot of my bed.

"Hey! Be careful!" I picked him up and gently set him back on his stand. I was already in a terrible mood and Nico's was making me worse! Well, I guess I didn't have any beef with him so I'll try not to eat his face off. I sat down next to him; he stared grimly at his palms.

"I hate people." I said, crossing my arms.

"Join the club." He replied, leaning back onto his elbows. This was the awesome thing about having a brother to brood with. You can just sit there and not hear "wanna talk about it?" every five seconds, which made you not want to talk at all, until you're actually ready to talk. I looked over at Nico, he blankly stared at the ceiling, deep in thought.

"I'm sorry that you have to go with us. I know how you feel about "over there.""

"I'm sorry you have Euterpe stuck in your brain." He said to the ceiling. I felt my mouth turn down and my lip wobble a bit. I whipped my nose on my arm and let my hair fall over my face.

"You think that's the only reason I can do music?" my voice wavered a little. Nico sat up, making the mattress groan.

"No. No way in Hades," He brushed some hair behind my ear and I looked at him.

"You have amazing talent that no one can take away." He gave a side grin and smiled back, rubbing my eye. I grabbed him for a hug and buried my face in his shoulder. Despite not liking to be touched, Nico was a great hugger.

"So, Jacob and Kori-" Nico drew out of the hug

"And you." I interrupted.

"And me, are going to tag along with the golden duo then eh?" I lowered my eyebrows.

"Oh, so by "people" you mean Saph. What happened?" I took an aggravated breath.

"She didn't tell me what was going on. That she was having prophetic episodes." I answered, shaking my hands for a mystic effect. Nico opened his mouth to say something, but I got there first.

"But she told Troy. Troy, not me." I crossed my arms.

"Troy?" he said quizzically, "He's not exactly the brightest light in the Apollo cabin. She expected him to keep a secret that big?" I smiled. Nico always knew exactly what to say when I needed cheering up.

"Well when you go up against this," I gestured to myself, "it's hard to not too crack under el presión." I dusted imaginary dust off my shoulder. Nico rolled his eyes and ruffled my hair and I pushed his shoulder.

"Shower and get some sleep," Nico said, "we've got a big day tomorrow." For some reason Nico believed he needed neither sleep nor personal hygiene.

"No, you shower first. I'll take longer than you." I replied sweetly. He scoffed, but listed to me and headed for the shower. When he closed the door I grabbed George and strummed the chords.

"I'm sorry the mean boy threw you." I cooed, stroking his bridge. The water turned on and I began playing Skinny Love. I loved Bon Iver, his music was just so deep and meaningful. It cleared my head from a thick fog to a sunny spring day.

Fate has dealt you with a grand hand

I scoffed,"Yeah right. Grand hand."

The sky clouds were gray and the sky a pale blue when we met up with everyone else in the Big House. The floorboards creaked as we made our way into the vine covered living room. Jacob stood by Seymour, scratching him behind his ears making him sound like a motor boat. He had a worn out back pack by his feet. Percy and Annabeth stood by Saph and Troy, guarding them before sending us all off to possibly our death. Chiron stood in front of the leather couch which was occupied by a nervous Kori and even more nervous Jason who held onto Piper's dark hand. I didn't even think about Jason suddenly having to let a sister that he just met go on a quest to Greece, where he almost died. Everyone here was leaving their family, except me.

"Well, we're all here and accounted for," Chiron tapped a hoof onto the floor. He tried to sound cheery but we all knew that demigods and Greece didn't exactly mix. We're just lucky that we're not going through the Mediterranean. He handed Nico and I navy blue passport books before turning back to the group.

"I suppose it's time we sent them off." A few solemn nods were taken as we migrated through the kitchen and out the door. We walked through camp to the beach shore, Mary was waiting there for us; her worried eyes matched the color of the wispy clouds. Percy walked into the waves and called for our ride to Bristol. Minutes later, three hippocampi were breaking the water on the horizon and quickly were in the shallow sea water. Their white upper bodies blinding and their rainbow tails glistened in the brine.

"Bye." Saph said, hugging her brother and even Annabeth. I saw her mouth whisper something in her ear. Probably an apology. Jason and Piper gave Kori a hug. She stood there a little awkward at first but returned their embrace with enthusiasm then turned to Mary and squeezed her waist like a little kid hugging her mom goodbye for the first day of school, when they pulled out of their embrace Mary slipped a chord over Kori's head. It had the pythons teeth dangling from it, that could definitely come in handy later. Apparently Troy and Jacob had already said their good byes and were mounting the hippocampi. Troy helped Saph onto the hippocampi. Jacob offered Kori his hand, but she pursed her lips. She still felt pretty awkward around him since she threw him into a column that first day. Was that really only two days ago? I stepped up and took Jacobs hand.

"Woah, queen on board." He said helping me up. I rolled my eyes and wrapped my arms around his waist.

"You good?" he asked, turning his head. The sun has risen and orange light make his eyelashes and eyebrows look like wisps of fire. I nodded.

"Yeah, what about everyone else?" I looked over to the other four. Saph and Troy gave a thumbs up and from my left Nico nodded as Kori got on. She propped her arms behind her to support her instead of hanging onto Nico. She probably didn't feel comfortable touching him yet. That would change here in about two seconds when we took off from the shore. With a little kick, Jacob sent our water horse surging through the waves. Troy and Saph followed our lead before weaving their way to the front since Saph was really the only one who knew how to get to Bristol. I heard a loud, high-pitched squawk and shot my head around to see Kori clinging to Nico for dear life. I smiled, they would be best friends if they just weren't so, well, them. Maybe something good will come out of this when we were all done with this quest. I turned back and rested my head on Jacobs orange backpack. It smelled like churros and Hershey bars. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Bristol was a long way away, decent time for a nap.

About two hour later we took a pit stop at the very tip of Maine. My legs were wobbly and sore from sitting on a sea horse and I was in desperate need for a good meal. The beach here was different than the one back home. It was rockier and pine trees were just a hop skip and a jump away, there was some sort of (I'm not joking at all) castle in the distance. Troy lifted Saph off their horse while both Nico and Kori tumbled to their knees off the back of the whining horse.

"We'll be back in about an hour, stay out of sight." Saph instructed, stroking her hippocampi on the muzzle. They whinnied before sinking back into the grey-blue ocean.

"How do we know it'll be an hour? We haven't got any idea where we are." Troy whined, someone clearly has blood sugar issues.

"I do." Nico answered, walking to the sandy boardwalk path.

"There should be a McDonald's around here if anyone's interested." No one argued and we stuffed our bags behind a rock and trotted off to follow. 10 minutes later we were sitting at an orange speckled table sipping on sweet tea. No one verbally asked Nico how he knew where we were but I think that the answer was floating around somewhere in their heads. A teenage waitress hustled over with a black tray full of our food. I didn't know McDonalds' waitresses did that. She plopped our food down, lingering on the boys places.

"Anything else I can get you?" Her high pitched voice asked as she twirled her strawberry blonde ponytail.

"Oh we're fine." Saph cooed, putting her head on Troy's shoulder.

"What do you think, hon?" she purred, pecking him on the cheek.

"Oh yeah, we're great." He rubbed his cheek on her face. I wanted to laugh and puke all at the same time. The waitresses cat eyes filled with envy as she huffed and turned on her heel back to her station. When we were sure she was out of ear shot, our table erupted in laughter.

"Oh gods! Did you see her face?" I managed to choke out. Saph managed to do quite an accurate impression of "Stacey" making the restaurant sound like comedy central. Eventually we were all too busy stuffing our faces with greasy burgers and fries to laugh anymore. Jacob looked like a happy little 7 year old munching on his fries.

"I haven't had a burger in months!" he grinned. I smiled and rolled my eyes in an endearing way and sipped my tea. Kori and Nico were done before anyone else so they excused themselves to watch the hippocampi.

"Well, they seem to be getting along pretty well." Jacob said, biting into a fry. I nodded, taking a sip of my drink.

"Yeah, now they have someone to be awkward with." Troy grinned, looking out the window at them. I choked down a laugh. Yeah, I know we had a quest to do and had to be a team but that didn't mean I still couldn't be pissed at them. I bet Troy still hasn't told Saph about his gift. Coward. I finished my tea and slammed it into the table, startling my three companions. I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow at the two "love birds" in front of me.

"What?" Saph whined, aggravated that I was giving her the guilt trip special. Stacy came stalking back to our table with a black tray under her arm. I picked up my cup and shook it.

"Wanna top it off for me, camarerita?" She glowered, her black visor cast a shadow over her face.

"With your blood, demigod." She growled. Suddenly, her hands became vicious claws and a deep, feline growl erupted from her jaws. She swiped at my shoulder; I slammed up against Jacob, pushing us into the seat, but she still managed to hit me.

"Sphynx!" I shouted, my shoulder felt like it was on fire. Stacy was now a quadruped with hawk wings, somehow her visor stayed on her now matted hair.

"Die!" she hissed. The other employees seemed oblivious, only one looked back and just rolled his eyes. He probably just saw "Stacy" having a little hissy fit. I pulled my bow out and shot at her, but she saw me coming and jumped out of the way. Her claws scraped against the tile as she ran towards me, I reached for my quiver but she was lightning fast and pounced, pinning me to the floor.

"Ready for that refill?" She mocked, baring her sharp teeth. I struggled and kicked, but it was no good. Out of nowhere, a bronze shield slammed into her side, knocking her off me.

"You ok?" Jacob panted, helping me up.

"Yeah," I winced from my shoulder, "I'm fine. But I'll be better once that bitch is smelly dust." In the background I heard Saph grunt as she lunged at the sphinx. Troy shot arrow and it hit Stacy in between the ribs, making her squeal before swiping a mighty paw at him, making him recoil. Saph lunged again, but this time Stacy dodged and hit her wrist. She cried out as she dropped her sword, Stacy rose up and shoved Saph into Troy, who fell into a table that ended up falling on them. Stacy turned her attention back to Jacob and me.

"Dirty trick, demigod. Too bad you don't have the shoulders to go with that tackle, boy. I might have killed you last then." Her tail swished as she roared and flew towards us.

"Move!" Jacob shoved me out of the way and raised his shield to protect himself. The bronze shield clashed like a symbol as Stacy rammed into him. Jacob yelled as he was pinned under what was supposed to protect him but actually trapped him. Stacy purred with pleasure at Jacob's squirming legs.

"Hey ugly!" Stacy snapped her head at me. I let loose the notched arrow straight in between her eyes. An echoing wail faded as she swirled away into nothing. Jacob sat up, panting in relief. He looked over, I expected a thanks but he said instead,

"Your shoulder's bleeding like crazy." He turned his shield back into a watch and trotted over to me. My windbreaker's sleeve was shredded and the black material glistened with my blood. I pulled it off and stuffed it in the trash can. I looked over at Jacob,

Troy and Saph stumbled over, Saph hobbled on a sprained ankle while Troy seemed to be in pristine condition. Stupid gift of Apollo.

"You ok?" Saph asked. I uncovered my shoulder and she gasped.

"We need to get back to the beach. I have ambrosia in my bag." Troy nodded in anxious agreement. Jacob helped Saph limp out the door, Troy offered his arms to carry me but I just glared at him.

"Yeah, you really care." I punched him with my good arm and stormed out of the trashed McDonalds. He caught up to me at the edge of the parking lot and put his arm on my shoulder. I jerked away.

"What are you doing?" I cried as he gripped my shoulders.

"Caring." His eyes lit up like summer fireflies and I felt a warming sensation enter my body. It was calming and energizing all at the same time. A few moments later, he removed his hands. I looked over at my shoulder, there wasn't even a scar. I touched it in disbelief. He had a crooked smile.

"This doesn't mean that I'm still not pissed." I huffed, turning back to the path that we had come through. I didn't talk to Troy the entire way back to the beach. Jacob was filling Kori and Nico in as the hippocampi splashed at each other happily. Saph jogged over with a metal canteen in hand only to stop, a look of puzzlement took up her face.

"Wait, your shoulder…" She looked up at Troy.

Come on, now's your chance.

"I had some ambrosia in my pocket that I forgot about." He said quickly. I can't believe that idiot! I stormed off before I could send him to Hades. I grabbed my pack and mounted my hippocampi.

"You guys coming?" Bristol's a long way from Maine." Jacob hopped on and cautiously secured his arms around my waist. The others followed our lead and soon we were on our way to England in the mid-morning light.


	16. Kori Pov

Nico and I made our way back to the beach without any conversation. We sat on some of the rocks, he kept his dark brown eyes locked on the creepy castle in the distance.

"You know this place, don't you?" he sighed and looked at me.

"So, what happened?" I pointed to the grey cliff.

"My sister, Bianca, and I went to school there." Somewhere I imagined a little Nico sitting in a desk, kicking his short little legs and smiled. I stood up; feeling pulled to the cliff and wanted to check it out.

"Come on then, I wanna look." I grabbed his wrist and dragged him behind me until we reached it. The dark stone castle looked like it needed to be back in Germany, the full parking lot and basketball hoops seemed to almost parody the life that once lived there. The wind whipped my hair in my face as I turned back at Nico. He looked a little sick.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I brushed my bangs from my face. He looked even more melancholy than usual.

"Hey," I grabbed his wrist and heard that distant little click and did the time warp again. Only this time, Nico came with me.

Snow covered the ground, a creepy man with a bird-beak nose stood in front of Percy, Nico, and a girl with black hair that I presumed was Bianca. Percy was defiantly staring at him, hovering his hand over his pocket while Bianca had a protective hand on Nico's shoulder. The bird face man attacked with lightning speed, but all three of them were knocked over by surprise by an invisible force. Annabeth suddenly appeared, holding a Yankee's cap.

"It's like Hades helmet!" I said, amazed and slightly jealous. Nico remained quiet, watching with his past replay with sadness in his brown eyes.

"Manticore!" Annabeth's squeaky adolescent voice warned. Little Nico suddenly sprouted some statistics about the creature with a little too much enthusiasm.

"He's got three thousand attack and plus five to saving throws!" he cheered.

"You play Mythomagic?" I giggled. It was hard to see a boy as serious as Nico sitting criss cross on the floor, organizing the perfect deck with military like tact. His pale cheeks colored with the color of a dusty red rose.

"I used to. But that was a long time ago." He put his right hand in his jacket pocket, like it was his security blanket.

"Well that's too bad. I wanted to learn how to play, some kids at the group home I was at played it. When I asked if they'd teach me they looked at me like I was too stupid to even know how to hold a deck of cards." I said a little bitterly.

"So you never learned?" He asked, looking down at me.

"No, but I hid half of their decks." I smiled. He scoffed; I think that's the closest sound he can make that comes close to laughter. The scene finished and diminished back to the present. The winter snow faded into summer grass, no evidence of the flashback remained. Nico and I walked back to the beach quietly, but it didn't feel awkward. We sat back on the rocks and listened to the ocean roar until Saph and Jacob appeared on the shore. Apparently, V had pissed off their waitress who just happened to be a sphinx and they had it out right there in the restaurant. A few minutes later, V and Troy showed up. Luckily Troy had remembered some ambrosia in his pocket so it was all good. V got us going again and moments later we were back on the hippocampi and were off to Bristol. The ride was really smooth, I actually fell asleep on Nico's backpack. When I woke up, we were about 30 miles off the coast of Britain.

"How fast do these things go?" Somewhere in the back of my mind I remembered my math teacher getting mad at me because I googled the answer to a word problem that was eerily similar to our current situation. Only, that word problem dealt with planes, not magical horse fishies.

"I don't know and I don't really care as long as I can get off of this thing." Nico grumbled. Our hippocampi whinnied.

"Hey! Be nice to Danea!" I stroked her white shoulder. Nico raised an eyebrow.

"You named it?"

"I named her, Nico." I smiled as he rolled his eyes. Yeah I was ready to put my feet back on solid ground too, but the hippocampi were really pretty and the ocean was beautiful. But yeah, dirt sounded really nice right now. We crept to a deserted stone pier, the green canal water rippled smoothly as we hopped off.

"Thanks guys, we'll see you later." Saph stroked each of their muzzles and sent them off with a sugar cube. The sank back into the water, but not before properly splashing each of us.

"Well," Jacob said, wiping water from his face, "that was fun." V's face did not agree as she shoved her damp curls behind her ears.

"Never. Again." She seethed, walking up the pier. It was sometime in the afternoon, I couldn't really tell though. Time zones, weird things they are. We followed V like a row of baby ducks to their mommy.

"Do you know where you're going?" Troy asked, looking at the closely wedged brick buildings. V threw her hands up in the air.

"No Troy, I do not. But no one else was volunteering!" Some one needed to eat. Her t-shirt sleeve was tattered, she had to be cold. I was freezing! It's supposed to be summer! I zipped up my jacket and hugged my arms. We turned the corner and were bombarded with people and colorful awnings. V grabbed Jacob and ran into a little boutique with jacket clad manikins.

"Why'd she take Jacob and not me?" Saph whined in a rather impressive British accent. Troy linked arms with her.

"Because you two wear the same size and have the same taste." He responded, matching her dialect. They laughed and walked into the coffee shop next door, leaving Nico and I standing there like awkward tourists.

"I wish I could do a British accent," I frowned "I'm gonna stick out like a sore thumb."

"Only if you open your mouth." Nico said off handedly. I dropped my jaw and did another "really?" face.

"I mean, uh, I mean since you look so…" he stuttered and gestured to me, trying to claw himself out of the deep hole he had just dug.

"So what?" I crossed my arms and cocked my hip. He better have one amazing way to make this up to me.

"Uh, you look European. You got the Greek face and… How about I just buy you a coffee?" He put a nervous smile on his face.

"Only if I get extra espresso. Oh! And a muffin, I'm hungry." I grabbed his wrist and escorted him into the café. The brass bell tinkled and the wooden floorboards creaked as we stepped in, it smelled like freshly ground coffee and warm bread. This was a local business that boasted of its homemade pastries and soup. Troy and Saph were conversing over tea and scones on a comfy, floral, sofa. Nico went up to the counter and ordered our snacks from a colorfully decorated chalkboard. Even he could do an accent! Well, his was Italian but still! Why are we even doing the accent thing? WHY?

"Kori!" He pointed to the display case. I walked over and pointed to a chocolate muffin.

"First time 'ere sweetie?" The barista asked. He had piercing and a spider tattoo on his neck, some people can pull off the hipster look but this guy just needed to stop. I nodded, not wanting to make any more eye contact than necessary.

"Shy un." He laughed, "Don't worry sweet 'art, I don't bite." He handed me my muffin, I guess he was nice enough, still creepy, but nice. Nico thanked him and we walked over by the "not love birds" and sat down.

"Ew," I crinkled my nose, "You put milk in your tea?" Troy and Saph's faces got serious.

"It is delicious, you uncultured child." Troy rolled his eyes. "We're in England! Why do you two have coffee?" He asked over dramatically.

"Cause I'm 'Merican." I said, taking a swig, making Saph choke on her Earl Grey. Nico grinned and enjoyed his drink. The front door jingled and V and Jacob walked through. She was clad in a black leather jacket with a grey hood, making her look dangerous.

"How much did you pay for that?" Troy asked, "We need to make our money last."

"Silencio," she hushed "It was 6.20 pounds, that's about $10."

"How'd you swing that?" I set my coffee cup down on the table. She shrugged,

"I just asked him to lower the price and voila, $10." She did a little turn. Nico rolled his eyes lovingly and took a bite of this muffin. We finished our pastries and left the café, coffee cups in hand.

"Well, now where?" Saph asked, leaning against the brick wall. Troy shrugged, sipping his tea.

"Why don't you see if we can get to London by canal, we'll check the train route." Nico suggested.

"Sounds good to me." V agreed. We agreed to meet back in front of the café in about an hour and separated. Saph and the boys went to the docks and the Hades bunch and I walked in the other direction.

"So, anyone know how to get to the train station?" V looked around the corner, fiddling with her necklace. I opened my mouth to say something when I heard a soft click. A glowy, yellow trail floated to the top of the concrete and brick.

"That way," I pointed across the street, "We need to go that way." I stepped off the curb and was greeted with an angry car horn. V and Nico grabbed my arms and jerked me back.

"You know those metal carriages with lights? Yeah, you generally want to avoid them." V quipped, checking me over to make sure I didn't get even a little broken. Nico hit the crosswalk button and a few seconds later a walking man blinked into life.

"Now you can cross." Nico gave the after-you gesture and V and I walked along the glowing concrete. We walked on winding sidewalks and past antique brick walls decorated with colorful graffiti tags. The path's golden glow would fade as soon as our toes would touch the edge. We turned the corner and I saw the end of our yellow brick road.

"Bristol Temple Meads train station." I announced.

"How'd you know it'd be here? Hell, how'd you know what it was called?" V pulled the grey hood down, spilling her hair out.

"Well Cleo is the history nerd, right? This place has been here for years, it's imbedded in the memory of Bristol. So she'd have to know." I shrugged, reaching for my sketchbook in my backpack. When else would I have a chance to draw a place like this? The thing looked more like a fortress or a castle then a train station. An ivory clock face graced the sand colored stone, telling all of its travelers the time as they rushed from taxis to the entrance.

"This is exactly how I pictured Hogsmede's train station." I awed, turning to take in the arched windows and corridors as I quickly sketched in everything. V's red stained lips curved to a smile, she may not have seen Monty Python but she earned those points back for Harry Potter. Nico's dark eyebrows scrunched.

"Hogsmede?" I stopped drawing and turned on my heel, V's black curls whipped her face.

"You. Me. Bookstore. NOW!" I dragged him inside while V chittered in Spanish at him, scolding him for his lack of magical knowledge. It was even busier inside the station then the bustling streets we'd just crossed. The white tile reflected the busy people, heels tapped a hurried symphony.

"Where's the bookstore?" I looked up at the black and white sign for direction.

"Lounge maybe?" V suggested. I thought about asking one of the people who were trotting by but that would totally make me look like a tourist. A dumb tourist who couldn't read signs.

"Shouldn't we be looking for departure times for London?" Nico interrupted our intense search for the bookstore. He was, sadly, right. We put our mini-quest on hold and went to the ticket book, which was much clearly marked then the bookstore.

"Next departure to London is in about an hour 'n a half. You'd get there in about 3 hours." The elderly ticket taker told us. We bought our tickets on the spot.

"Oh! Can you please tell us where the bookstore is?" I asked, taking our tickets.

"Just in the lounge area." He pointed a weathered finger to the left of us and thanked him. Nico groaned,

"You're still going to make me read it?" he whined. V tugged his ear.

"You will read it and you will like it." She chided. A quick trip and about $6 later, we left the train station with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in hand to return back to the café. We managed to walk there in about 10 minutes, Saph and the boys were sitting on the floral couch when we walked in.

"Got our tickets." V spread them out in her hand like a deck of cards.

"Good," Saph said standing up. "All the waterways are being dredged." She grabbed a ticket from V and hurried towards the door. We looked back at the boys, Jacob mouthed the word "Dad" and V and Nico nodded in understanding. We were about to walk out the door when I heard a whistle.

"Ey! Sweetie!" I turned and the barista from earlier beckoned me over.

" 'Ere." He set a coffee cup on the counter in front of me and smiled. "On the house." He bleated. I grabbed the cup, raising an eyebrow.

"Clever girls get a free 'un." He raised his hands in defense before leaning over the beverage stained counter to my ear.

"Ye got a protection 'round ya." He whispered, "keep 'em others safe." He drew back, grinning secretly. From his curly black hair, I saw little twin horns that followed the curve of his hair.

"You're a satyr?" I whisper-yelled, gripping my coffee making the aroma swirl from the lid. His dark hazel eyes glinted.

"Best barista's are." He replied before turning to his other customer. Nico called me over, pushing me out the door.

"Did you know he was a satyr?" I looked up at him as he pushed me up the sidewalk.

"Yeah, satyrs love coffee. That guy's living the dream." His thumb pointed back to the coffee shop.

"Why couldn't I tell?" I whined feeling stupid. Nico shrugged,

"You just got in this world; I've been here for a while. You'll learn to pick up on it." He assured me. I pursed my lips and smelled my coffee. It had extra espresso. I think that satyr had a thing for me.

"Which platform was it again?" Troy said airily, neglecting that the number was printed on the ticket he was holding.

"For the last time, it's platform 9!" Jacob said, exasperated. Nico looked up from his book.

"9 ¾?" he asked, making me smile. He was a quick reader. I took another sip of my mocha; the caffeine eased my nerves and relaxed me. According to the big clock outside, it was about 4. It had been nearly 5 hours since the last monster attack, it made me nervous and relieved at the same time. We were sitting in the lounge; people milled in and out like blood flowing through a heart.

"We still have about 45 minutes until the train leaves," V stood up, "I don't know about you but I'm gonna walk around." Nico reluctantly closed his book and began to stand up when V stopped him.

"No, Nico. You can stay here and read." She ruffled his hair and pecked his cheek before striding off, leaving a very happy Nico to his paperback. Jacob got up and went in the same direction as V while the not-couple walked in the opposite direction. I propped my sketchbook on my knee and drew the people sitting across from us. The lady had thin red hair and a double chin, but had laughter filled eyes. She was sitting next to a prune of an old man. His thick glasses covered his squinty eyes and made his nose look bigger. He had his hands folded on his wooden cane. I was about to draw this adorable little boy when I heard some commotion and looked up. Three burly men walked in, tossing aside the poor street musician they'd just stolen change from. I'd dealt with mini versions of them at some of the group homes before; they'd steal things and beat up kids who got in their way. The leader had these little black sunglasses and a scraggly beard while his 2 cronies had buzz cuts, the only thing different about them was that one had a rust red bandanna wrapped around his head. All of them were clad in leather and stained, ripped jeans like a biker gang from Hades. They looked around, looking for more people to push around no doubt, before settling their eyes on Nico and me. I slowly closed my sketchbook and stuck it back into my backpack, trying to not look conspicuous. Those guys were freaking me out.

"Nico," I whispered looking back at the bikers.

"Hmm?" he grunted, engrossed in the magical world of Hogwarts.

"There's a group of creepy biker dudes," I looked over and almost jumped out of my shorts.

"And they're walking over here!" I hush yelled. His head shot up immediately, he closed his book with a soft clap. They were chortling, shoving one another into other people who gave them dirty looks. Nico slowly put his book away, rubbing his thumb across the skull ring on his finger. The bikers heavy boots stopped right in front of us, the 2 that flanked their leader were wearing psychopathic grins.

"Can we help you?" Nico threatened. The one in the middle smiled, taking off his glasses revealing a set of bulging red eyes. I squeaked, yep. That's me, fearless daughter of Zeus. They 3 rolled cruel laughter into the giant room.

"Ye fink we can 'andle two of em boys?" The "boys" cracked their knuckles and nodded.

"They're a bit smoll, don't ye fink?" the one with the red bandanna complained. I started to panic, a soft click sounded in the back of my head.

They're Laistrygonians, I thought. They're like the scarier cousins of the giant from Jack and the beanstalk.

"Eh, just a snack. When there are a few demi-gods around, there's bound to be more. "Sides, the mortals are boring me." The leader threw out his palms and flaming bronze balls appeared.

"Run!" Nico yelled, grabbing my wrist and jumping over the seat as the cannon balls from hell flew over our heads. It exploded when it hit the wall, making bits of it fly into the air and the lights go out. People noticed and started running to the exits.

"Attention, due to some electrical problems in the lounge, please make your way outside until further notice. Thank you." The intercom lady was way too calm. Suddenly, one of them was in front of us and was armed. Nico drew his black sword and swiped at his arms, making him drop the ball. Before it could hit the ground I kicked it straight into ugly's face, making it blow up.

"AAAHHHH! Dumb brats!" He howled, clutching his face.

"Nice kick." Nico commented as we sprinted around the charred face biker. We dashed down a random hall but the heavy sound of boots soon caught up to us. We skidded around the corner, but it was a dead end. The Laistrygonians yells echoed at the mouth of the hall.

"What now?" I looked around for windows, staff entrances, stairs, anything.

"We're going to have to fight." Nico warned as we came to a stop. I nodded reluctantly and made my daggers appear. Pretty soon they were only feet in front of us. Nico charged, slashing his Stygian sword wildly. I ran after him, luckily I was small enough to slide between their legs and slashed the backs of one of the crony's knees with my daggers.

"RAAAAAAAA!" the giant with the red bandanna collapsed as I sunk both blades into his back, which turned to dust.

"Flamer!" the other crony yelled as he shoved Nico into the wall.

"Demi-god! You shall feel the wrath of Iron Fist!" He charged, but I slid between his legs like I had Flamer's.

"What kind of name is Iron Fist?" I taunted, rolling to my feet. He roared, and threw his fist behind him. I dodged the first arm but his right fist hit me square in the gut, sending me flying into the back wall.

"Kori!" Nico yelled as he fought off their leader. I was wheezing on my hands and knees, but managed to look up.

"I'm ok." I coughed, reaching for one of my daggers. Iron Fist's boot stopped me though, he stomped it onto my hand, making me yell. Nico kicked the leader in the shin and tried to run over to help, but was grabbed by the back of his neck and thrown into the wall.

"I fink he should watch as we kill his wee friend first." Sunglasses said maliciously as Nico kicked. Iron Fist grinned and nodded in sick agreement.

"Not so tough without those butter knives, are ye?" He dug his heel in and heard little cracks and hissed through my teeth, I grabbed my other knife and sank it into his leg. Iron Fist yelled and lifted his foot, staggering back; I grabbed my other knife and with my good hand threw it at his chest. But it missed and landed in his shoulder, making him angrier. He grunted as he pulled the bronze dagger from his shoulder.

"Now what wee 'un?" He grinned evilly, twirling the dagger in his hand when he suddenly threw it. I yipped and ducked, but it pinned the hood of my jacket to the drywall. I yanked it from the wall and pointed it at him. He chuckled and pulled the other dagger from his leg while making another fire ball appear.

"Time to die, demi-god!" He laughed. He raised his arm to throw the flame.

Dad, if you can hear me, please let this work.

I yelled and a blinding flash of lightning shot from my dagger into Iron Fist's body. Sadly, he didn't vaporize. He yelled, stunned, and dropped my dagger and the flaming ball. It exploded, making Sunglasses drop Nico and knocked Iron Fist into the other wall. I ran and picked up my dagger and hopped over the little crater over to Nico. He coughed as I helped him up.

"Think he cracked a few ribs." He hissed, holding his side. I threw his arm over my shoulder and we ran out of the hall. But it wasn't long until the now very pissed off bikers were hot on our trail. We ducked into a closet, they stomped by, yelling in excruciating detail of how they would kill and eat us when they caught us. When they were half way down the hall I peeked out.

"What now?" Nico whispered. We snuck out the closet and turned the way we came.

"I, I-" I looked down the hall and saw a deer's head rearing around the corner. Totally normal, right? But no, it couldn't be a normal deer. Its antlers were golden, gracefully curving to the sky. It jerked its head like it was saying this way. Well we didn't exactly have a better option, so I looked at Nico and said

"We're going to follow the magical 8 point buck with gold antlers." And started leading him down the hall before he could give me the "Are you eating magic mushrooms?" look. We almost made it down the hall, but the Laistrygonians were on to us and were rushing down the hall.

"Run. Time to run." I said as we picked up speed. The stag was now standing by a door that said caution on it that was across from the book store and pawed the ground impatiently.

Hurry up already! It said. Jeez, woodland creatures are bossy.

"Eat flame demi-gods!" Sunglasses yelled, blasting us. It soared over our heads as we ducked and it hit the wall next to where the deer had been just moments ago. When the dust cleared, we could see inside the room. Giant beige colored tanks with colorful diamonds on them stood alone in the dusty light

Gas

"Nico, follow the deer!" I yelled, feeling a little ridiculous. He tried to protest, but I pretended not to hear. I ran towards the Laistrygonians and waved my arms.

"HEY! Want a piece of this?" I shot a little lightning from my dagger, which completely missed, but that was just part of the plan.

"I'm starting to fink she wants to be skinned alive, Boss." Iron fist grinned.

"I fink you need to see a speech therapist." I stuck my tongue out and scampered closer to the gas tanks. It worked and they stormed closer armed with their fire coated bronze spheres. They stepped closer, cornering me. I could feel the heat of their dodge balls of doom they were so close. They laughed manically and threw their ammo just as I jumped to the side. BOOM! The arch way we were under collapsed on top of them, but it threw me back into the lounge, taking a couple potted plants and chairs with me along with half the bookstore. Paperbacks and smoldering magazines were raining down as I dizzily sat up. Nico limped over and helped me to my feet.

"Where'd the deer go?" I said, trying to see straight. Nico shrugged, clearly not caring as he put his arm around me to help me walk despite his own limp.

"What were you thinking? You could have blown yourself up!" he scolded, weaving our way around books and tables before finding an upright sofa. We both plopped down, covered in soot and slightly singed.

"I was thinking," I reached down and grabbed the book next to my foot, "that I would get you the next Harry Potter book without having to pay for it." I stuck it on his knee. We sat there for a second, completely quiet, then burst out laughing. I'm not sure how long we were like that, just that V, Saph, and the boys were standing with flabbergasted expressions in front of us.

"We can't leave you two anywhere, can we?"


	17. Saph pov

When Troy and I heard the lady over the intercom, we knew it wasn't actually the wiring that made the lights blink. People were rushing past us; it took us forever to get back to the lounge! V and Jacob were coming in from the other side, hopping over a couple of chairs. Kori and Nico were laughing like maniacs on a (now backless) sofa. They were covered in drywall and were slightly singed, when they looked up I saw that their faces were sweaty and covered in ash. V sighed and rubbed her face,

"We can't leave you two anywhere, can we?" she walked over and started wiping off Nico's face with the sleeve of her jacket. Kori grinned wildly, swaying a little,

"We made the Lastrygonians blow themselves up!" With how huge her pupils were, I figured she was actually in the blast. Troy sighed and picked Kori up like a rag doll and threw her over his shoulder.

"This is why we can't have nice things." He scolded, "We need to head for the terminal or whatever you call it." Jacob popped some ambrosia out of his bag and gave it to Nico and we headed off.

"Troy! I can walk! I don't want my face in your butt as nice as it is." Kori squirmed trying to keep her backpack from spilling open. I choked a laugh down; yeah she definitely had a concussion.

"Enjoy the view while it lasts, kid." Troy teased as we made it out to the platform.

"You're too boney! Eat a doughnut will ya?" she complained, shifting on his shoulder. Nico explained what happened as we walked through the empty halls. Apparently when Kori said "we" blew up giant Canadians, she really meant she had blown them up. I was actually impressed, even with an experienced demigod, those guys are hard to beat.

"She kept mumbling something about a deer, but I never saw anything." Nico commented. I knitted my eyebrows together.

"A deer?" I asked, a little more worried about Kori's mental health.

"She probably got the concussion before the explosion then." Jacob suggested. We climbed onto the train, which was strangely clear of people. Troy put Kori on a seat, she was passed out.

"Hey, someone wake her up. If she has a concussion, she needs to stay awake." V ordered. I started walking over when Troy stopped me.

"She's fine, no brain damage." He assured. I raised an eyebrow.

"How do you know?" he pretended to be offended.

"Son of Apollo, god of healing?" I rolled my eyes and sat down on the smooth plastic. It'd already been a long day. Earlier when the boys and I had gone looking for a water way passage, my dad had decided to visit. We were on the dock and there he was, sitting in a little wooden rowboat.

"Hello Saph." His eyes smiled as he tied his little dingy to the dock. While the boys bowed and did the whole "My Liege" thing, I trotted over to him, pulling him onto the pier.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, giving him a hug. No, my dad and I weren't super super close, but we were on good terms so he got a hug. He sighed and sat down on the edge of the warped wood, letting his ankles return to the grey water.

"Sadly, to warn you." He took his fishing hat off and ran his calloused hands through his black salt-and-peppered hair.

"The water here isn't safe for you." I furrowed my eyebrows.

"What do you mean it isn't safe? You're the god of all the seas and I'm your kid! That's like messing with Chuck Norris when he's wearing boxing gloves!" He chuckled and ruffled my hair.

"Yes, but it's still dangerous. This is the homeland of us, of everything. Ancient entities don't take too kindly to invaders."

"But-" I tried to argue, but he lifted his hand and I shut up.

"I didn't say that I wouldn't help you. I can promise you safe travel in the English Channel and the Rhine. But once you get to Paris, avoid all rivers at any cost." His eyes were as serious as an oncoming hurricane. I opened my mouth to disagree, but couldn't think of anything to say.

"Yes sir." I frowned. He gave a sad grin, kissed my forehead, and slinked back into the depths. I huffed and heaved myself back onto my feet.

"Come on," I jerked my head "Let's see if the other guys had any luck." And here we were, on a train in the grey light to London. The green countryside whizzed by and was soon replaced with some suburban scenery. Raindrops began to fall and slid down the windows.

"You know, when I was young my mom and I would each pick a raindrop and have them race." Jacob said, examining the streaks. Troy stood up and walked over to him.

"I'm game, let's play." He sat down and picked his raindrop. Pretty soon they were chanted encouragements to their drips.

"Yeah! Go Hydro, go!" Troy cheered. Nico looked up from his book, slightly annoyed but went back to reading without any comments.

"Wipe the window with him Aquarious!" Jacob chanted. Aquarious won that round and began preparing for the next one. V rolled her eyes, but joined the Rain Games.

"I'm so gonna win this one." Troy announced. V raised her eyebrow.

"I don't think so, Troy. I am clearly the superior rain racer." Jacob replied. But both of them got their butts handed to them by a very smug looking V. I decided to get it on the games, making the bench even more crowded. Once everyone picked their drops, we all chanted.

"Aquila! Aquila! C'mon!" I shouted, making some of the natives snicker at our shenanigans. I decided to assure my victory and used my Poseidon powers to slow down everyone else's drops and Aquila slid into victory.

"Hey!" Troy whined, "You totally cheated!" I smiled evily.

"You have no proof." I teased. V scoffed and rolled her eyes. I kinda killed the game so we went started playing Blackjack instead. About an hour later, our train began to slow down. It was pouring when we had to get off; we were soaked by the time we got inside.

"So," Kori asked, wringing her ponytail out, "Now what? We don't know where the ferries to get to France are." The boys nodded in agreement.

"Hey, does your aunt still have her "open door" policy?" V shook her dark hood off like a wet dog.

"I was thinking the same thing." I nodded. V gave a half smile, she was still seriously pissed at me but at least she was being mature about it. Troy's eyebrows furrowed.

"Wait, you just happen to have an aunt who lives here in London?" He pointed to the ground, looking confused.

"Yup. I'm just that awesome. Hey let's see if the Grey sisters operate in London." I said slinging my bag off. A few rainy moments later, we discovered that the Grey sisters indeed did not operate in London. When the drachma sunk into the ground, all we got was a little white business card that said "Sorry, out of range." I flipped it over and found out that they don't give refunds. Lazy, greedy, hags. So we ended up having to take a bus to Westminster. The traffic wasn't terrible, but it wasn't exactly a walk in the park either.

"So," Troy leaned over my shoulder while we were at a red light. "What's your aunt like and how'd she end up here?" he asked in a British accent.

"She married a lawyer from here and came back to London with him." I explained. I looked over and saw Nico, Kori, and Jacob wide-eyed with awe as we crossed Westminster bridge and passed Big Ben.

"A couple of summers ago, when they announced that they were pregnant actually, we let them stay at my house. So when they went back to the U.K, they said their door would always be open for us." I sighed and leaned back, letting the orange lamp light flood my face. Honestly, I'd scoffed when they told me that. If you'd have told me that I would be going to Europe, Greece no less, I'd have laughed in your face. I still hoped that they were serious about their offer.

"Last stop." Our bus driver gruffed. Reluctantly, we left the warmth of the bus and ran for cover from the freezing rain.

"Now where?" V asked, shoving her wet curls behind her ears. We were all shivering under some townhouses awning.

"They're on Binney street, but I don't know how to get there from here." I looked around for a stand offering maps, but none were there.

"Excuse me, sir." Jacob tried to talk to a passerby, but he brushed him off like he was a loon. Jacob stood open mouthed for a second before walking back out the rain, looking like he'd lost all hope in humanity.

"You're not in Kansas anymore, Toto." V said, patting his shoulder. Troy snorted and V kicked him in the back of knees. He glared at her while he futilly attempted to brush off the wet coal pieces that were now imbedded in his pants.

"Hey, Kori," V looked over at her, "Can you do that thing again?" I raised an eyebrow.

"What thing?" I asked. Kori twisted her mouth to the side.

"Maybe, but even if I could get us there I don't know their specific address." I waved my hand

"If you can somehow get us on Binney, I can find it. But how do you plan on doing that?"

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them, her irises flashed gold and she smirked.

"Follow the yellow brick road." She started darting down the street, weaving through people.

"Hey! Hey, slow down!" I called after her, but she kept going.

"This way slow pokes!" She was about to cross the street and nearly ran into a taxi.

"Did you ever learn the look-both-ways thing in school? You could have turned into a ketchup stain!" Troy snapped, grabbing her backpack. He looked up, shielding his face with his free hand from the lightened drizzle.

"We need a child leash or something for Dorthy here." We laughed while she pouted until the cross sign blinked. Troy kept a firm grip on Kori's backpack as we passed outlet stores and bustling people. We walked for a good 15 minutes before turning the corner onto Binney.

"Voila!" Kori announced proudly. Troy patted her on the head

"Good girl, now heel." She glared at him and swatted his hand away.

"I will bite you." She threatened, making Nico and V laugh.

"Hey guys, as amusing as this is, I'd rather not be in the rain." I said, bringing their attention back to the situation. The entire street was lined with iron wrought fences and fancy red brick homes. Big, leafy trees luckily kept most of the rain off of us. Some people were stumbling out of the white door of a pub while Café Uno was filled with college kids.

"There!" I cried with relief. We crossed the street to a set of stairs that had primrose bushes on either side and knocked. There was some commotion before the deadbolt was released and the door creaked open.

"Hi Uncle John!" I smiled. My uncle had brown, curly hair with a little bit of grey by his ears even though he was only about 30. He had a big nose, rosy cheeks and a merry smile for a lawyer.

"Ah! Sapphira!" He cheered, pulling me into a hug.

"Who's at the door, John?" My Aunt Chrissy called, entering the parlor. When she saw me she squealed with delight and rushed over to greet me.

"Hello sweetie! Oh my goodness you've grown and your hair!" She smiled at the aqua color in my bangs, "Oh, so sorry. I didn't know you brought friends, come in before you catch cold!" The parlor floor creaked a bit as we stepped in, it was warm and had pictures of the family covering its walls. Aunt Chrissy ran off to get some towels while I introduced everyone to my uncle.

"Pleasure," he smiled, shaking everyone's hand. "It's always a pleasure to see you Sapphira, but I do wish you would have given us some warning." I shrugged.

"Well we were going to swing by tomorrow, but the hostel was completely full." I told him that we were over here because of a duel credit college course. He loved to hear how much I "loved" education. Aunt Chrissy came back with towel and their daughter, Amy.

"Saphie!" she squeaked, bounding down the stairs.

"Hey ankle biter!" I teased, sweeping her up into a hug. She had big hazel eyes and her father's curls. Chrissy handed each of us a towel. I set Amy down and happily took the yellow duck towel from her hands.

"You're just in time, I made soup and rolls." She smiled. Aunt Chrissy turned to Uncle John,

"Dear, will you and Amy get some extra bowls down please?" She batted her eyelashes and John melted like butter.

"Of course, dear." He picked up Amy and they went down the hall, singing some nursery rhyme. Chrissy turned to the group of us, looking crestfallen.

"I suppose you aren't here for a family visit, are you?" She asked. I shook my head and she sighed.

"Wait, she knows?" Jacob asked.

"My dear," she stated, "I consider myself an expert in all things Greek 'mythology'." V smiled, she'd always liked my Aunt Chrissy. John popped his head around the corner.

"Soup's on." He said. None of us argued and migrated into the dining room. The elongated dark wood table was surrounded by mismatched chairs and had a steaming pot of vegetable soup and a large basket of rolls in the middle.

"Saphie, sit by me!" Amy called from her booster seat. I smiled and sat in a carved oak chair next to hers. We said grace and dug in. In between bites, all of us said thanks and chatted about random things. Once everyone had finished, Kori and Jacob offered to do dishes while the rest of us set up for the night. Luckily, John could afford a bigger town house and it was equipped with a guest room.

"The chaps can stay in there, you ladies can stay in Amy's room. I'm sure she won't mind" Uncle John explained, bringing in some extra blankets.

"Do you mind if we use the bath?" V asked for us. Uncle John pinched his nose and "insisted" that we take all the time we needed.

"I'm just joking, Nico." He laughed, smacking him on the back. He grinned nervously like it caused him pain to be around my extrovert uncle. But at least he was trying to be a little social. Kori and Jacob walked in with red hands and thanked Uncle John again for taking us in on such short notice.

"You're quite welcome." He smiled, he loved having family and strangers over.

"Hey, um, could you tell me where the bathroom is?" Kori asked, doing a little jig. John directed her down the hall and she dashed off.

"She's a bit peculiar that one." He smiled. I laughed,

"Oh you have no idea." Jacob snorted and made Uncle John roll on the floor laughing.

"Witty friends you've got." He smiled.

"Saphie?" I whipped around and saw Amy in her My Little Pony nightie, holding a thin book.

"Will you read to me?" She made her hazel eyes rounder and even bigger. How could I resist that face?

"Alrighty ankle biter." I picked her up and stuck her on my hip as we made our way up the stairs.

"How'd you get your hair that greeny-bluey?" She touched a streak with her chubby little hand.

"Someone I know dyed it. She also showed me how to use Kool-Aid to dye hair. I'll show you how to do it later." I promised her. I set her down on Aunt Chrissy and Uncle John's bed and pulled the white comforter up to her chin.

"All right," I shimmied up next to her and she cuddled her head on my arm, "If I ran the zoo." We giggled at the nerds and awed at the Fizza-ma-wizza-ma-dill's. By the time we were all done, Amy could barely keep her eyes open.

"Night Amy." I pecked her on the forehead and turned the lamp in the far corner off before closing the door, leaving only a thin rectangle of light. I tip toed down the stairs and saw most everyone had wet hair and their pj's on, except Kori and Nico didn't seem to be anywhere.

"Was I really gone long enough for all of you to bathe?" V rolled her hair into a towel and answered me with a classy si. I shrugged and figured it was my turn so I trotted down the hall to the bathroom. I passed an open room lined with bookshelves and saw the 2 missing kids sitting in cushioned chairs, engrossed in their books. I smiled and walked into the guest bathroom. I took my sweet time in the shower, knowing that we probably won't have a good chance at hot water for a while. A solid 20 minutes later steam rolled out of the opened door and I met up with the others in the sitting room. Aunt Chrissy and Uncle John were telling everyone good night and gave me a hug before they walked up the stairs for the night.

"Well, I'm gonna grab Nico from the book room," Troy said, standing up.

"You mean the library." Jacob corrected, also standing.

"Nuance," Troy said, waving his hand, "Well anyways, we have a long day of not being maimed or killed ahead of us and I think everyone should get a few winks. Night." He pecked my wet hair as he walked down the hall to the library.

"Night all." Jacob smiled and waved then headed down the hall, but not before slipping on some water that I may or may not have brought with me.

"Careful." V chuckled. After he recovered she swiveled her head towards me and raised an eyebrow.

"What? My feet were cold and the water wasn't!" She rolled her eyes but didn't say anything.

"Well, we better hit the sack." V stood up, stretching.

"Kori! Bed-time!" she yelled down the hall before walking to the stairs.

"Five more minutes?" Kori whined, poking her head out into the hall. V raised an eyebrow and Kori huffed a piece of damp hair from her eyes.

"Fine." She complained, turning off the light and walking out. I smiled and we headed up the stairs.

"Sadly, Amy's got a little bed so only 2 of us will fit." I said as we reached the top of the stairs and flipped the stair light off.

"I'll sleep on the floor." Kori offered, pulling her sweats back up onto her hips.

"You sure?" V asked. She nodded, making her hair fly around her like a storm cloud.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I've had to sleep on the floor a lot." Her expression darkened for a second before snapping back into her sunny self. I grinned and ruffled her hair.

"Alrighty then, we already have a pallet set up so you're set." She grinned and pushed the door open. V took a look around room and nodded.

"I like the unicorn wallpaper." She said, sitting on the bed. Nearly every piece of Amy's room was decorated with unicorns and cracked me up every time I thought of it. I crawled into the other side of the (surprise!) unicorn comforter and slid under.

"Night guys." I said, clicking the lamp off. They echoed me and we fell into silence. I closed my eyes and hoped to the gods that Urania wouldn't pay me another visit.

Of course she had to.

I was floating in some unknown galaxy. Greens and blues and purples swirled and stars flickered. I felt like I was swimming in a living opal.

"Hello again." I turned and saw Urania gracefully hovering, her white hair curled around her face, which looked tired.

"Isn't this supposed to be hard on you, visiting me this much?" I huffed, crossing my arms. She rolled her eyes, making them look more like deadly black holes than peaceful ethereal heavens.

"Well it's more difficult for you, but I know that you will want to hear what I have to say." At first I wanted to know what she meant when she said 'harder on me', but my curiosity won out.

"Ok, I'm listening." She took a sigh of relief and raised her chin; she was aging by the second. I never noticed how gaunt her face was or ashy her skin.

"When you reach France, you need to go to the Louvre. There, you will need to find the statue of winged victory."

"Ok, why? We can't afford to make pit stops to enjoy the sights." I immediately felt a bit guilty. I was planning on getting up early to go to the Sherlock Holmes museum before everyone else woke up, but that was before we started the clock on the quest again so it didn't count. Urania's eyes narrowed, like she knew exactly what I was thinking.

"This is no 'pit-stop', child. This is for you and your friends benefit, not mine. Do not let your own agenda hurt others." I felt a tugging at my feet and looked down to see that the universe around us was unraveling, literally. The sky became colored sand and fell into a black nothingness.

"You're waking up child. Get to the statue, Godspeed!" She waved her hand like Russian royalty.

"Wait! What do we do when we get there?" I yelled frantically, being pulled down along with the celestial sand.

"Clio will know, but Euterpe will save you." And with that, I was sucked down into the deep shadows.

I nearly toppled onto the wood floor, but thankfully V and I were wound so tightly in the blankets and sheets that it kept me in place. I looked at the pink alarm clock. 8:45? I propped my face in my palm. I didn't know exactly when the museum opened, but I figured it would be soon. I carefully pulled back the sheets and blankets and slipped my clothes on. I peered over the side of the bed and saw that Kori's cot was empty. Damn it, she'll want to come with me. Nothing against her, it's just that I wanted 2 hours to myself. I scribbled a note on a piece of paper and left it on the nightstand. Aunt Chrissy and Uncle John had taken Amy to daycare so it was just the demigod crew in the house. I slung my backpack on and crept down the stairs. I slipped into the kitchen and snagged a left over cinnamon roll (I love my aunt) and crept back up the hall. I slipped into the bathroom to brush my teeth and walked to the front door. As I was passing the library, I peeked in and saw Kori sleeping on the floor surrounded by thick books. I stifled a snicker.

"Five more minutes, huh?" I whispered before heading to the door. I snuck out the door and quietly closed the door behind me. I breathed a sigh of relief only to turn around to see Troy leaning on the stair rail.

"What are you doing up?" I quipped, a little upset to not have some time to myself.

"Oh come on, Saph." He pushed off the wrought iron. "I know you too well. You didn't think that I'd just let you go to the Sherlock Holms museum without me." I huffed and rolled my eyes.

"Please, you'll hardly know I'm there!" He insisted. I raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"Ok, fine. Let's go." He did a quick victory dance before he grabbed my hand and lead us down the street. We'd gone about three blocks without really talking, which was weird. Usually we can't shut up when we're with each other.

"I think we should have taken a left at the last street." I said, hoping to start conversation.

"You sure?" Troy scrunched his eyebrows together.

"Mmmmmm, nah." I said leaning against his arm. He smiled and rolled his eyes.

"So, what book did you read to Amy?" He asked as we passed a street musician who was playing Journey on an accordion.

"If I ran the Zoo", She loves Dr. Seuss." He chuckled a bit, his copper eyes smiled.

"You're pretty good with kids, aren't you?" He pushed the cross walk button and looked at me. I smiled and shrugged.

"I try." I answered as we crossed the street. We were still pretty quiet after that, but I didn't mind. It's nice to enjoy the quiet with someone. As it turned out we really were supposed to take a left way back so we got lost a few times, but eventually made it to the museum around 9:50.

"Holy-" my jaw dropped. It was already filled with people!" People were looking at the shelves that were filled with old books, glass cases filled with props, and just about everything else.

"You'd think the guy would keep his workspace a little cleaner." Troy said, looking into the cluttered parlor.

"You do know he's a fictional character, right?" He pretended to be heart-broken, whining about how I'd crushed his spirit.

"Quit that! You're making people look." I hissed, smacking his shoulder. We walked over to a giant black dog head that was mounted beside 2 illustrations.

"OK, that's just creepy." I said. Troy rolled his eyes.

"C'mon Saph, it's not even a real head." He replied as he poked the thing in the nose.

"Well it's still creepy." I pulled us away from the yellow wall and moved back into the parlor. We made our way up the creaky stairs and checked out the bedrooms on the second floor. Everything was going fine, and then we heard the commotion downstairs.

"Ey! Who let that dog in?" A man bellowed.

"It's huge!" a woman screeched, followed by a few yells. Troy and I looked at each other and raced down the stairs. We only had to make it half-way down when we saw it. The mounted head was no longer on the wall and in its place was a two headed black hound, bigger than your average grizzly bear. And to top it all off she had a green, hissing snake for a tail. It snapped it's two growling heads up and made eye contact with us.

"Run, RUN!" I yelled, pushing Troy up the stairs. It let out a blood chilling howl before scratching up the stairs, destroying parts of the wall.

"What's Orthus doing here?" Troy yelled as we sprinted down the hall. According to Percy, Orthus was the sheepdog of Geryon and should still be in Texas.

"Hell if I know, just run!" We reached the end of the hall, but luckily there was another set of stairs. We flew up them as quickly as possible, but Orthus caught up. She growled and swiped at Troy's feet, making him fall on the stairs.

"Hey! Back off!" I twisted by bracelet and slashed at her, making her recoil. But she gripped Troy's pants leg, pulling him down the stairs. He yelled and drew his bow out and shot her right through her elbow joint. She wailed while we stumbled into what I guess was the storage part of the building. Orthus burst through the top landing just as we got in the hall. Troy knocked over a tarp covered cabinet, which luckily slowed her down long enough for us to get halfway down the hall. We turned a corner and ran into a random room. We barricaded the door with a dust-covered dresser before backing up; panting like we'd just ran a marathon.

"You think that'll hold it?" Troy gasped. The door answered his question violently, shoving the dresser forward nearly six inches. I yipped and shoved it back into place, only to have a massive paw break through the door and scrape my cheek. Troy broke out his bow again and shot an arrow through its paw. Orthus howled and its viper tail shot through the splintered hole. I raised Tsunami and cut its head off, making the tail writhe like a green hose that had run out of water. Orthus whined in pain.

"Ha! Take that!" I gloated, but its tail started to seize and two new heads grew from the stump.

"We just can't go anywhere without getting attacked, can we?" Troy complained, notching another arrow. I rammed my sword through the broken panel, hoping to scare her off. She growled and stopped clawing the door, but continued to growl like a lawnmower from hell. I carefully backed away from the dresser and stood next to Troy as the rumble slowly faded.

"Think it's gone?" I whispered. He furrowed his eyebrows and stalked around me to the door.

"I think it-" The door exploded into splinters, Troy yelled and shot blindly through the now gaping hole. A diagonal chunk from the upper right corner to the doorknob was nothing but deadly wooden spikes. Orthus barked, desperately trying to claw its way in over the spears. I turned around and saw the window. Why hadn't we tried that sooner? I ran over and broke the glass with the butt of my sword.

"Hurry! I can't hold it off much longer!" Troy yelled over his shoulder. I cleared as much of the glass from the pane as I could and hopped onto the landing.

"Come on!" I shot my hand out and he grabbed it just as Orthus broke through the door. We jumped out of the ceil when she was just a finger's tip away. Any normal person would have broken their legs from a three story drop, but I willed the outdoor sprinkler system to break and the water slowed us down enough so we only skinned our knees. Some of the people saw us fall, but quickly turned their heads away, forgetting they'd even seen us. Orthus was barking out the window, upset that it'd lost its treat.

"Why did the fire alarm go off?" One of the people in line asked a stranger, who shrugged. Employees were evacuating the building as quickly and calmly as possible.

We didn't waste any time and sprinted through the crowd down the street. It took hardly any time to get back to the flat. Troy slammed the door behind us, heaving his chest in relief. Aunt Chrissy came in from the kitchen, her eyes were bigger than saucers.

"What happened?" She ran over, panicking over the fresh scratches.

"Oh, you know," I said through gasps, "The usual."

Moments later, Kori and the boys ran down the stairs and V walked out of the bathroom, they all seemed to be in a pretty good mood until they saw us all battle worn, their faces fell into serious expressions. Troy and I quickly explained what happened to them in between sips of water that Aunt Chrissy had quickly provided. The water patched me up fine while Troy had to dig out some emergency nectar.

"You need to go then," Aunt Chrissy said pursing her lips. "It'll find you and attack." I hugged her and told everyone to grab their stuff. They scattered in frenzy, grabbing bags and pulling their shoes on.

"Thanks for having us, Aunt Chrissy." She pulled me into another hug and kissed the top of my head.

"Tell Amy that next time I come over that I'll show her how to dye her hair pink, will ya?"

She nodded and I turned back to the group, anxious to get to the ferry. We left in a hurry and Kori lead us to the dock without running into any cars this time, thank the gods. Luckily, my dad had already taken care of our fair (apparently we were interns sent to check the effects of boats on the local fish population) and soon London was just a speck on the horizon. Paris, here we come.


	18. V pov

"So how long until we get to Paris?" Nico asked, leaning over the railing next to me. We'd left London in a hurry about an hour ago.

"About four more hours." He groaned and flopped his arms over the rail. I patted him on the back,

"It's ok, I'm bored too." I assured him. So he and I went walking around for a while. This is gonna be a while.

Four agonizing hours later, we stepped onto the pier. Bridges were covered in locks and tourists taking pictures.

"Land!" Jacob cheered, kneeling onto the concrete. Kori twirled in a little circle, taking in the city of art with enthusiasm.

"I wouldn't do that, you don't know what's happened there." Saph said, making Jacob slowly stand back up. It was sometime in the afternoon so we decided to grab some lunch. We walked around until we found a little hole in the wall café that wasn't busy. It smelled like burnt coffee and potato chips, but the food was actually pretty good.

"Mmm," Saph set down her glass of soda, "I saw Urania last night." I put my fork down and raised an eyebrow.

"What'd she say?" I asked. Everyone leaned closer to hear what Saph had to say.

"She said we had to go to the Louvre-" Kori shot up like a rocket.

"The Louvre?" Her eyes glittered with excitement. "We're going to the Louvre?" She squealed and wiggled in her seat. We couldn't help but smile at her little kid-ness, but then I heard a crackling noise and a few pops.

"Ow!" Nico and Troy yipped, jumping in their seats. I cracked up while Kori's face turned red.

"Sorry, got excited." She grinned sheepishly, but still doing the little chair jig. Saph cleared her throat and continued.

"Yeah, so she said we need to go to the statue of Nike."

"Then what?" I interrupted. She took a deep breath, clearly irritated.

"Then I don't know. She said Clio would know what to do from there." We all turned to Kori, whose skin had just gone back to its original olive color.

"Hey, don't look at me!" She put her hands up, "I can only conjure road maps from the lady. She hasn't told me squat since camp."

"Maybe she will when we get there." Nico suggested.

"Yeah, maybe." She trailed off, grabbing her sketchbook from her backpack and started tapping her pencil onto a page.

"So I guess we should get going?" I waved the waitress over. One of the few that hasn't tried to rip our faces off and fill our cups with our blood. We paid and walked onto the sidewalk. People with oversized sunglasses and bags walked briskly past us, like we were shrubs instead of people. Ornate gargoyles and carvings decorated the sides of the stone buildings, making faces at us as we passed. Kori stopped at nearly every statue to gape and sketch it.

"Do we have to stop at every single one of these things?" Saph complained.

"Ah, let her have her fun." Jacob insisted.

"It's not hurting anything." Nico chimed in casually. We also got intruding little tid-bits about who the statues were of and what they did from Kori. Clio must be having a hay day in her head.

"So after we figure out the thing at the Louvre, what then?" I asked Saph. We were resting on a fountain while Kori sketched one of the bronze horses that spewed water.

"Find a train or bus to wherever the history lady says." She replied.

"No I mean how-"she interrupted me by yelling at Kori to hurry up. She put some final touches on her picture and slapped the book shut and shoved it into her backpack. I huffed a piece of hair out of my face and grabbed the boys. Luckily, Paris was a tourist trap so Kori didn't need to break out her Wizard of Oz trick.

"Ok, so we make a right on this street and go straight for 8 blocks." Jacob said, tracing the trail on the thin paper that he'd "borrowed" from a newsstand. Oh, how I love the Hermes kids.

"What after this?" Nico craned his head over to Kori, snapping her out of thought. Her lips twisted into a tiny line.

"I'm not sure. Maybe when Clio tells me what's at the statue she'll tell us then." She repeated what she'd said at the café.

"No, I mean are we going to-?" I smacked my forehead, tired of hearing the same conversation play again.

"We'll find out later. One issue at a time." I seethed, making Nico scowl. He hates when I get pissy at him.

"Yeah, like transportation." Troy said under his breath. I snapped my head in his direction.

"Wait, what do you mean?" His face got all red and he raked his fingers through his brown hair.

"I- I, uh, mean how are we going to pay for it. Transportation and food and room and-"

"Cut the bullshit, Troy." I threatened, making him clam up.

"Way to go." Saph smacked him on the shoulder.

"Saph?" Jacob said looking up from the map.

"You didn't tell them?" he asked, disappointed and surprised.

"Tell us what?" I put deadly pressure on each word. Saph looked around for support, but Troy raised his hands to forfeit. He was never very diplomatic or articulate under pressure and Jacob knew better than to mess with me when I'm already pissed. Somewhere in the background I saw Kori raise her hand, but I ignored her.

"Ok, my dad told me that we can't take any waterways. They're too dangerous." She spit out.

"Great, just great." I threw my hands up in the air. "Water is one of the quickest ways around Europe. And none of you bothered to tell us?" Jacob rubbed the back of his neck and pursed his lips, Troy looked up, suddenly engrossed by the architecture. I groaned and rubbed the space between my eyes. Saph narrowed her eyes, looking like I'd just smacked her.

"Hey! It's not my fault! And I couldn't find the right time, we were either busy or-"

"Um, guys? I-" Kori piped in quietly, but I drowned her out.

"I never said it was! Gods! And yes had plenty of time! What about that damn ferry ride? Couldn't you take 2 minutes from flirting with Troy-" I yelled, but Saph interrupted, upping the octive.

"Leave Troy out of this! We figured that I should tell you but I forgot." Troy and Nico slowly began to back away from the ensuing nuclear disaster.

"Like you forgot to tell me you were having visions of the future?" I retorted, getting angrier.

"Guys.." Kori said a little louder.

"Oh my gods! Will you get over that? If it weren't for me, we could be ash by now!" People were beginning to notice and rolled their eyes at us from behind their sunglasses.

"Oh get off your high horse! One of them would have freaking told us so shut the f-"

"SHUT IT!" Kori screamed at the top of her lungs. We both snapped our necks in her direction and gave her a deadly "What?" look each. Gods why do we have to be in sync?

"Would the two of you just stop it? We do not have time for either of your bickering! Now I'm going to take a short cut if you two can get away from each other's throats for five minutes." She stormed down an alleyway leaving us standing there like idiots.

"Gods, she can be annoying." Saph mumbled.

"You started it." I huffed. Jacob dropped his arms.

"Oh my gods, are you serious?" He scoffed.

"What?" I glared, but he didn't back down. He threw his shoulders back and lowered his eyes to meet mine.

"You're gonna let a 16 year old, cute girl walk down an alley in Paris alone?" My cheeks felt hot,

"She's not 16 yet." I answered, avoiding the actual question.

"Her birthday is today." Nico spoke up, digging his hands into his jacket pocket. Saph opened her mouth, but nothing came out. I kicked the concrete and avoided looking at any of them.

"Way to care. I thought you were better than that, Vanessa." Jacob scoffed shoving me the map and running after Kori, Nico looked at us with disappointed eyes and walked off in the same direction. We stood there for a few moments before quietly following the green line to the museum.

The glass pyramid glinted in the sunlight, the camera flashes only made it worse. It was gorgeous here, but I couldn't appreciate it. I felt too bad. I not only let Jacob down, but also Kori and Nico. I winced just remembering the disbelief in Jacob's eyes. Way to care. It felt like someone was stabbing me in the gut. We shuffled through the courtyard and into the front lobby. The high ceiling echoed the multitude of languages being spoken.

"Alright, let's find the English group and see where the statue is." Troy suggested a little too merrily. Saph luckily shot him the "Shut up" glare before I could, toning the happy back down. We slipped in with the English speaking tour group (For Troy and Saph's sake) and after about half an hour of boring droning that Kori probably would have found fascinating, we ditched the group when we saw the winged statue peeking above the masses of people down the adjacent corridor. The room was filled to the brim! I could barely hear myself think!

"Gods, how are we supposed to find them in here?" Troy raised his chin to look around, but frowned when he didn't see anything. I branched off and weaved my way to the front of the statue, but didn't see them. Just a guy who looked like he'd stepped out of Grease, attempting to light a cigarette with an expensive looking steel lighter. One of the guides quipped at him in French, but he just shrugged and replied in Spanish. The guide then switched languages and the guy rolled his eyes and stuck it behind his ear. I went up to him and asked as sweetly as possible if he'd seen our friends. He ran his hand through his greased black hair and looked me over like a piece of meat. Creeper, I thought, shivering.

"No los veo, lo siento chica." He winked.

"Gracias," I replied, fighting the urge to slap him. I was about to walk off when I noticed something sticking out from behind the statue. I strode over and felt my stomach fall to the floor. It was Kori's backpack. I swiped it up and turned to the guy who was grinning an 'I know something you don't' smile when Troy and Saph walked over.

"You find them?" He gestured to Kori's backpack. I turned a stone hard glare at the Grease kid, raising Kori's backpack.

"Ah, those kids?" he answered, examining his nails.

My eyebrows shot up.

"So you speak English now?" I frowned, dropping the bag back down.

"Who are you?" Saph asked, itching at her bracelet. He grinned and pulled a lighter out of his pocket.

"Oh, just the poor, talented guy you blinded and sucked the life out of a couple thousand years ago." The end of his cigarette burned orange as he inhaled.

"But hey? Who's counting?" He shrugged; smoke swirled from his mouth.

"Who are you?" I hissed, grabbing his shirt. "Where are they?"

"Woah, there. No need to get pushy, doll. They're fine, for now." He smiled, pushing my hand away.

"What do you mean "for now"?" Saph questioned. He brushed off some imaginary dust from his shoulder.

"Well, the creepy one is on the top of the Eiffel Tower right now-"

"Nico!" I yelled and almost dashed out that second, but he kept talking.

"The one with the pointy nose is somewhere around here, ah! There he is!" I turned and saw Jacob, covered in garbage, sprinting through the crowd. He activated his shield and slammed into the creepy Grease guy, making him spit out his cigarette.

"Where are they, Thamyris?" Jacob actually lifted him off the ground into the side of the Nike statue. Thamyris coughed out a laugh.

"Easy there, tiger. Enjoy the dumpster diving?" He chuckled maliciously, infuriating Jacob even more.

"Jacob." I gave him a stern look and he reluctantly lowered him to the ground, but kept him pinned. He looked like he was about to slice Thamryis' head off right there.

"Like I said earlier, Nikki is enjoying the sights from the Eiffel tower and Clio, or whatever she goes by now, is exploring the new and improved Labyrinth. I really dig how her hair looks now, a lot more wild and laid-back than that old bun she used to wear." His voice sounded heavy and slick, like slime.

"But the Labyrinth was destroyed when Daedalus died." Saph growled, her sword now drawn. Thamyris threw his head back and laughed.

"You really think something like the Labyrinth could actually die?" he kept laughing until Jacob shoved him into the adjacent wall, pinning him yet again.

"Not funny, boy." He glared at Jacob who defiantly returned his gaze.

"You can get the boy back now, a sign of good will, but you can't have the girl."

"And why the hell not?" Jacob snarled. I almost took a step back from him. I'd never seen Jacob so angry before, it kinda scared me.

"Because, I want to prove I'm better." Thamyris looked over at me, "If she can beat me at a music contest, you can have her back."

"And if you win?" I asked, keeping my voice straight. He gave me another look over then turned to Saph and gave her the same treatment.

"Then I get a date with the two of you." He grinned like a snake. I zipped up my jacket and folded my arms; with the way he was looking at us, I had a feeling he wasn't thinking of dinner and a movie. Troy stepped defensively in front of Saph.

"That still doesn't explain what happens to Kori." Thamryis shrugged.

"C'est la vie." He said off-handedly. Jacob shoved him harder into the stone.

"No, you're going to give us both of them back now!" He ordered. Thamryis tut-tutted him.

"Now boy I don't think this is your decision to make." He glanced at me. I gripped Kori's backpack and glared at him.

"Get me a guitar."

We were at the base of the tower, standing next to one of the perfectly manicured lawns, somehow Thamryis swiped me a guitar.

"Whoever has the most change in their hat, wins." He smirked, stroking his fancy red Gibson.

"You didn't even tune this thing!" I complained, adjusting the knobs, wincing whenever it screeched.

"Not my problem." He huffed, sticking his nose in the air and heading to his post. Saph and the boys were working out how to get Nico down from the tip of the tower. I sighed and sat on the broken stool he'd given me to sit on. I tuned the guitar until it played a sweet chord. I strummed a few notes and tried singing, but people just kept walking past me like I was part of the sidewalk. I could hear Thamyris snort; he already had at least 10 people around him. I bit my lip and closed my eyes, Please, please, please help me out here Euretepe. I felt a calm wash over me and my hands began to play again. A crowd slowly formed in a U shape around me. Suddenly, words I didn't know spilled from my mouth; they felt like like honey and fresh fruit on my tongue. The crowd started chanting, whistling and flipping coins into the rumpled hat. I stole a glance over at Thamyris, his crowd was leaving him and coming over to me! Ha! I smiled and felt completely confident; I played faster, more upbeat. The look on their faces was euphoric. People began to dance and laugh, the joy just kept spreading. Slowly, the song came to an end and everyone erupted into applause. I stood and bowed, offering them the hat. It filled up quickly!

"Gracias, muchas gracias." I thanked every single one of them. Thanks Euretepe, I thought. Once I got the hat back I tied the brim up with a spare pony tail holder and stuck it in my bag, we could definitely use a few spare Euros right about now. The crowd eventually spread apart and I saw that Saph and the boys successfully got my brother down from the tower.

"Nico!" I cried, running to hug him. He coughed out a laugh as I embraced him.

"Can't breathe, V." He said, sounding a little sick.

"Sorry." I said, loosening my grip and let him take a baby step back. He placed his hands on my shoulders.

"Did you get Kori?" His eyes were serious, I opened my mouth to answer but then I heard a slow clapping.

"Congratulations." Thamyris mocked. I turned around and glared at him.

"Deal's a deal, where's Kori?" I demanded. He snickered and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"You can have her back, but you have to find her. Good luck without.." He felt around in his pocket, at first confidently, but then freaked out.

"Looking for this?" Jacob drew a ball of twine out from his khaki shorts pocket. He tossed it into the air and it suddenly turned into a hand held GPS.

"That's not yours!" He growled, charging us. The ground suddenly split open and skeletons in tattered uniforms jumped out from the cracks. They pointed their sabers at his throat.

"I wouldn't do that," Nico warned, "Now where is the entrance to the Labyrinth?"

"Eh, we don't need him." Jacob shrugged, turning the GPS over in his hand. "This'll tell us the exact location of Kori and how to get there." That made Thamyris lose his cool.

"You think that'll save her? Who knows what's crawling around down there? She's probably dead by now." He taunted. Nico raised his hand and the skeleton warriors grabbed Thamyris' arms and forced him to his knees. I knelt down to meet his face and glared.

"If you take us to Kori, we'll let you go."

"What? No way!" Jacob yelled. I raised a finger to tell him to shut up and let me talk. Thamyris tilted his head.

"And if I decide not to help?" he questioned. I leaned to his ear.

"Because if you don't I will personally make sure that you are put through the worse punishment chaos can invent in the deepest part of the Tartarus for the rest of eternity." I whispered venomously. His face turned white as if he was already dead before regaining composure.

"Where do you think I came from? I can just regenerate, can you?" He hissed. I snapped my bow out and rested the taut arrow's tip on his throat.

"Let's prove that theory, shall we?"

"I-I, even if I show you where that entrance left her, you wouldn't be able to find her. It's growing, shifting. She could still be in Paris or in Puerto Rico. I don't know!" he cried, his brow became wet. I lowered my bow.

"Let him go Nico, he's useless." Glowering, Nico let the bones go back to rest and Thamyris fell onto his butt.

"We still have this though," Jacob raised Ariadni's GPS "It's bound to get us somewhere." I grinned, he was right. We still had that.

"Yeah, you're-" A screeching noise cut through the air. We looked up and saw a dark cloud swirling around the tower, blocking the sunset light. It sounded like Freddy Crougar was clawing a sheet of metal. It rattled my ears and vibrated my teeth. Covering my ears didn't help at all and we were all brought to our knees. I looked over at Thamyris, who didn't seem to be affected at all. He was laughing as the cloud flashed around him.

"STYMPHALIAN BIRDS!" I screamed, but no one could hear. The birds descended on us, pecking and clawing at our backs while squawking threats. I rolled over a few, but the others weren't having much luck either. One stabbed its copper beak through Jacobs hand, he screamed and dropped the handheld device which the bird returned to Thamyris. I ran over to Jacob who had immediately clasped his scarlet hand back over his ear. The birds made a cyclone around Thamyris and just as quickly as they'd appeared, flew off in a copper colored cloud. Slowly, we took our hands off our ears. A high pitch buzz twanged in my ears. Jacob hissed as he grabbed his wrist. His ear and hair were stained from his hand. I grabbed the handkerchief from my back pocket and wrapped it around his palm.

"Where'd he go?" Troy yelled, snapping in different directions.

"He got it." Jacob whispered, glaring at the bloody wrap in his hand.

"It's not your fault. That thing stabbed you, not even an Ares kid couldn't not react." I tried to convince him, but he wouldn't look up. The guys gathered around us, completely silent. Nico glared at his shoes while Saph hugged Kori's backpack to her chest.

"Now what?" she asked. I pushed my hair behind my ear and rubbed my face. What could we do?

"We need to get to Mount Helicon." Nico said, digging his hands into his pockets. Troy looked like he was about to burst a gasket.

"What? How can you say-"

"Because Kori knows that's where we're going and will know exactly how to get there. You think I'd just drop someone like that, huh? I'm just the selfish death kid who doesn't care?" Nico roared, bringing his fists from his pockets. Troy stood, stunned.

"If anyone can get out of that maze, it's her." He finished quietly, letting his hands hang at his hips.

"Hey, I'm sorry man." Troy apologized, patting Nico's shoulder, but he just rolled Troy's hand off him.

"We need to find a hostel." I said pulling Jacob up to his feet. It was getting dark and I'd had enough adventure for the day. I just wanted to sleep. Like we'd started the day, we shuffled down a trail on a thin paper map to a hostel. We passed pushy venders and loud partyers until we made it to a 2 story cement building on the outskirts of the city. The stars were missing from the sky, it was just a hazy indigo with an orange belly from the lights. We checked in and headed to the room. The room had 6 sets of creaky looking bunk beds and the chocolate milk colored walls had various stains and dents in the sheet rock. There were 2 other backpackers in the room with us, but we just ignored each other. We all went to separate beds without bothering to take our clothes off. I couldn't sleep. I turned in the itchy sheets for hours. I finally turned over onto my back and gave up.

"Hey Saph, you up?" I whispered. I heard her mattress crinkle.

"Yeah, I can't sleep." She answered hoarsely.

"Me neither." We were quiet for a minute. I turned to the window, blue neon light bled in through the curtains.

"We were jackasses today." I said.

"Yeah, yeah we." She agreed.

"I-I'm sorry for getting all, well you know." I gripped my blanket.

"Yeah, me too." I heard the mattress shift and next thing I know I see her little blonde head through the railing.

"No more stupid stuff?" she smiled. I turned on my side and grinned.

"No more stupid stuff."


	19. Kori Pov

Ok, so yeah, that dumb Thamyris guy thought I'd just love the Labyrinth. No. Nope, not happening. Sadly, the boys had already been taken care of by the time I had any idea of what was going on. I had just flown up to the top of the statue (I over shot and nearly twisted my ankle landing) and looked for any markings or hints of a secret compartment.

"Ha!" I knelt down to a stone with the Greek letter Δ carved into it at Nike's feet and pried it open with one of my knives.

"Are you sure about this?" Nico called up to me as I stuck my arm down into the little cave. I finally brushed my fingers against something smooth, like a strip of cold ribbon, and yanked it out.

"Got it!" I cheered, showing them the glittering horse bridle from over the ledge. But when I peered over, they weren't there.

"Guys?" I crawled to the other side of the statue, but they weren't there either.

"Well, that was easy." I jumped and saw some guy leaning on Nike's leg. He had a white t-shirt tucked into a pair of designer denim jeans and enough grease in his hair to keep a McDonald's fryer stocked for a year. I heard a little click and saw him in a royal Grecian tunic brandishing a lyre for a millisecond before returning to the now.

"Thamyris?" I said, barely above a whisper. He laughed and pulled a box of Marlhoro's from his pocket.

"So glad you remember me sweetheart." He hit the box against his palm. I gripped the bridle and slowly inched my way backwards, glaring.

"Aw, don't be shy. Want one?" he held out a white stick to me. I got really pissed and shot it from his hand with a flash of electricity. He yelped and examined his hand, what a baby!

"You could have hit me!" He growled. I rolled my eyes,

"Oh what a shame that would have been." I hissed tautly. His glare turned into a scary smile. Uh oh.

"I know how much you love history Clio. Why don't you check out the Paris underground? It's a real maze down there." He snapped his fingers and the stone below me crumbled. I tried to fly away, but it sucked me in like a riptide. I screamed the entire way down. Tunnels and lost knick knacks whizzed by my head like I was Alice in the rabbit hole. I tried to get my feet onto the wall or grab an opening, but this tunnel had a whole different set of physics than France. I just bounced against the walls and was sent into tailspins. As I was about to make contact with the brick ground, I was able to will a gust of wind to slow me into a gentle landing. It was dark and smelled wet, like a basement. I gripped the bridle to my chest and had started breathing hard.

"No, no, no…" I fell against the slimy curved wall and tucked my knees to my chin. I was underground. I could feel the gravity of the dirt and rock closing in on me. I sat there until I could breathe normally and looked up. The wall shimmered and turned into water-washed concrete.

You're in the Labyrinth! I head Clio whisper in my ear. Calm down and rise. I'll lead you to Pegasus.

"But-" the words died in my mouth, there was no use in arguing with someone who was trying to help. So I stood up and closed my eyes and waited for the click. It came moments later and the golden glow lit up the tunnel. I kept my left hand on the wall and slung the bridle onto my shoulder. The path changed 3 times and Clio got us lost. A lot. I turned a corner and was suddenly in some sort of mine.

"Nuh uh. No. I am NOT going down there! I've already been dropped down here and walked through that sewer, I'm not doing it!" I screamed at the crumbling ceiling. I hated being underground. I didn't even like basements! I felt like I was being crammed into a little space and couldn't get out. Even when I'd run away from foster homes, I wouldn't hide in the sewer. I'd find parks or climb up fire escapes and spend the night there.

Be brave little one. You've come this far, you can keep going. Clio chided. I pursed my lips and stuck one leg in front of me, but froze again.

Come now, I could practically feel her pushing me forward. I didn't want to go down there. This was scarier than those Lastrygonians. I had Nico with me; I had him to be brave for but down here, I had no one. Some birthday this turned out to be. Eventually I started walking again, jumping at every little noise. I turned left and saw white light cutting through the rock and dirt. I don't think I've ever ran so fast. It was just a crack, maybe an inch wide, but it let fresh air waft in and warm light. I put my face up to it and looked through. It was camp! I was smack dab by a little waterfall between the lake and forest where we played capture the flag. I could see Percy and Annabeth on the dock, I started yelling at them.

"Hey! Hey! Over here!" But they didn't notice. I growled and started kicking the wall. Wait, my knives! I got them out and started clawing the crack with them. I'm lucky I didn't knick my knives. I gave up and decided to just look out. I'd never been homesick for anywhere before, but seeing the sun reflect off the grey lake and soft green grass made me crazy. Percy and Annabeth weren't on the dock anymore, but I saw Piper and Jason and Mrs. Carson. I almost started bawling right there. If I weren't in a confined space I would have gone Hurricane Katrina on that wall. I would do nearly anything to be with them now.

"I wanna go home!" I yelled through the crack.

I know. I want to go home too. I hadn't even thought of Clio wanting to go home. I hadn't even thought of Clio as a person. Way to go Kori. Slow clap into the sunset. I readjusted the bridle on my shoulder and sighed.

"All right, now where?" I asked and the gold path reappeared. I felt like I was walking for hours and got really, really hungry. I smacked myself for forgetting my backpack at the museum.

"Can you direct me to a free food place? Please?"

I am not Google, Korinna.

"Well it was worth a try." Clio is sassy, man. The only noise in the tunnel was my feet shuffling and that creepy dripping water noise you hear in creepy cave movies. So I decided to make conversation with myself.

"So," I turned down a hall that was covered in ivy and dead flowers, "How long have you been in my head?" then turned into a drop off. The only way to cross was to swing across via monkey bars. Sure, why not?

I suppose ever since you were born. I scrunched my eyebrows.

"Really?" I swung to the third bar; glad I had left my backpack at the museum for that moment.

Yes, the Muses bless all artists, Edgar Poe, Emily Dickenson, Plato, Degas, John Green-

"The Fault in our Stars guy? That book was sad!" I swung and landed on the other side, then realized I probably could have flown. Well my landings suck anyways so I'll just say that I didn't want to risk it.

But it's so good! But yes, and well, we were starting to fade so we chose those who we thought most capable of saving us.

"Well, how's that working out so far?" I said sarcastically.

Very well actually. You children expect so little from yourselves when you can do such great things. You made it to Paris, didn't you?

"Then ended up right back where we started." I grunted, squeezing between 2 rocks that blocked the path.

There! Behind those doors! I flew over a couple other boulders and saw a set of motion sensor door with an elegantly frosted M on the frosted glass panels. The A/C blasted on my face and took a deep breath of the sterilized air. I walked straight into a department store that was plastered with yellow "Going out of business sale!" posters and banners. The shelves were bent and half empty and some were slightly charred.

"Hello!" a shrill voice greeted. I jumped and turned around and saw a woman with black hair in a black cocktail dress.

"How may I help you? We're having a huge blow out sale on our hair products!" Her honeyed voice cooed. I fought the urge to snark at her and gripped the bridle. Why are people always commenting on my hair? I took a deep breath and faked a smile.

"Ah, no thanks. I'm on a mission. You wouldn't happen to have any pegasi would you?" She chuckled and took a look at the bridle on my shoulder with envy.

"I have one better; I have in my possession the Pegasus though I doubt that the bridle you're carrying is the right one." She gestured me to follow her down the waxed floor. Everywhere I looked it'd looked like someone had let loose a fire breathing bull. Clothes racks were broken, shelves bent and the manikins wore disturbing expression.

"Ah, yes. I bought those from Medusa before she, uh, went out of business. The figures are more realistic than those plastic ones that you always see." She threw out as we walked to the area with the blue Pets sign.

"Uh, that's, uh, cool." I said through my teeth. Her heels clicked as we trotted down looking for the right isle.

"So, you're an artist, yes?" She asked airily. I pursed my lips and gave her a mmmm-hmmm.

"And a child of Zeus no less." Her voice was penetrating.

"How'd you know that?" I squeaked, honestly surprised. How do these people know this stuff? Is there an ancient Greek gossip site or what? She laughed through her nose.

"I met your brother when he was about your age actually; this place was a mess from him and those ragamuffins! But he had the most gorgeous blue eyes, like yours."

"Wait, that was like, five years ago! No way could they have done that much damage!" I blurted out, regretting it immediately. Her eyes narrowed for a second before plastering her smile back on.

"This isn't from them." Her smile was stiff.

Don't trust her Korinna, Medea is a clever sorceress.

"Well I know that!" I thought as Medea turned the corner to a caged wall. Pegasus was trotting in a small circle in his prison. I almost screamed; How could she cage such a beautiful animal? He was pale like a harvest moon, his pale gold tail swished and bounced with every movement. But his gorgeous alabaster wings were restrained under black straps and he looked scared.

"Here he is. The actual Pegasus ridden by Belleraphon. Poor boy, much too handsome to go out like that." Her voice was like a poisoned rose.

"Uh, could I take him for a test flight? I mean, you wanna know how the ride is before you drop all those drachmas." I smiled, rocking on my feet. Medea threw her head back and laughed.

"Oh my dear, that's the oldest trick in the book! You wouldn't think that I would actually fall for that, did you Korinna?" Her green eyes glowed as I took a step back.

"Well, uh, I have the only bridle that can tame him!" I gripped it tighter and faked confidence, "He's of no worth to you without it." Her lips twisted into a wicked smile.

"Oh, I know that. If you give it to me, I'll let you walk out of here. No strings attached." She reached her manicured hand out to take it when I jumped back.

"No!" I yelled. I felt my eyes flash and Medea's botoxed face scowled.

"Uhg! Godling! Ok Korinna, how about a deal?" Her lips stretched, fighting the work she'd clearly had done.

"What kind of deal?" I glared. She wrapped a hand around one of the black bars; Pegasus recoiled and pressed himself onto the back wall.

"If you can neutralize a pest problem that I have, you can have Pegasus."

I don't like this Korinna. Clio whispered inside my ear. Well what other choice do we have? I huffed.

"Fine. What's the problem?" I hissed, crossing my arms. She snapped her fingers and disappeared into a green wisp of smoke.

"Oh, don't worry. She'll come to you." Her disembodied voice cackled. Suddenly, the shelf exploded and nearly toppled onto me.

"Chimera!" I yelled. Her lion head roared like a jet plane and her goat body shivered as the green serpent tail slithered around towards me. The tail hissed and lunged at me. I ducked and made the air pick me up.

"This isn't a pest! You tricked me!" I screamed at the ceiling. Medea didn't answer but I could practically feel her smug smile. I twisted my rings and felt my daggers in my hands. Chimera growled and I threw one of the knives but she just swiped it aside like a toothpick. I flew over her and threw the other one at her ear. She yelped and red stained her sandy fur. I turned and went for my knife that had skidded underneath a bag of dog food. I was just about to reach it when one of Chimera's massive paws smacked me and sent me spinning into a shelf of half-priced makeup. I coughed and staggered out of the cloud of eye shadow and was hit in the gut by her tail. Shelves of nail polish exploded onto the floor and made my hands and feet slippery with neon colors. I grabbed a bottle and threw it into the snake's mouth, but it swallowed it like it was a dog biscuit before the whole body chased after me. I darted down the aisle and flew off again to get my knife back. I was lucky that I could sling the bridle around me so it didn't fall off while Chimera smacked me around like a kitty toy. I whizzed by her body and scooped up my dagger before flying off to the dairy section. If Troy had been here, he'd of just stuck some arrows in his bow from a safe distance or Saph could have made a tsunami from all of the pipes. If I had just a little more experience I wouldn't be in such a mess!

"Now, now Korinna. Don't kill her; I have a hefty price for her. Someone needs a new guard animal." Medea's voice sang from the intercoms. I cursed her in ancient Greek before I summoned a typhoon to distract Chimera. I flew in and pulled my knife out of her ear, but the storm wore off and she saw me. She roared and fire curled out of her mouth. I yipped and tried to flip out of the way, but the flames licked my ankle and I crashed into a wall of refrigerated yogurt. I hissed through my teeth and examined my ankle. It wasn't bad, thank goodness but sitting here would make it go bad real fast. The typhoon not only was a total failure, but completely whipped me out. I couldn't even float an inch off the linoleum. I huffed down a baby supply aisle and hid behind a rocker chair.

"Now what?" I gasped quietly.

You need Pegasus, break him out! Clio shouted in my head.

"Well yeah! But then what? I can't kill her!" The rocker next to me exploded into flames. I ran out from my hiding place just as the whole wall exploded. I ran down the back wall and skidded to the left. I ducked underneath a table covered in pants and waited. I had no idea what to do! I was about to slip down the book aisle when I heard something tap the floor. I looked to the right and saw that gold deer again. I knew it wasn't the concussion! He jerked his head, ordering me to follow him. I didn't hesitate, I sprinted out from the table just as Chimera turned the corner to my hiding place. The deer took a left and disappeared, and I can see why, he had led me to the hunting department. Not only were there shotguns and machetes, but also javelins and chariots and anything that would make a gladiator squeal with glee. I grabbed a javelin and a shield just as I heard Chimera's claws and hooves skid across the floor. I sprinted back down to the pet's area and burst through the employee doors. I passed veterinarian cages filled with exotic and mythological animals, all screaming to be let out. My chest tightened with guilt, but I had to get to Pegasus. When I finally got to Pegasus' pen I found that it was locked with 3 golden padlocks. I cursed; no way could I pick the locks! Maybe Jacob could or V or Nico could just shadow travel in, but I couldn't do any of that. I turned and ran back out to the front of the cage. Pegasus fussed, stomping his hooves.

"Hold on, hold on. I'll get you out." I soothed, tossing the bridle inside of his cage for safe keeping. I turned and pressed my back to the bars and heard them clank. I furrowed my brow and banged against them again.

They're hollow. I grinned and started making as much noise as I could. Pretty soon I heard Chimera storming through the shelves. She reared her ugly head and roared.

"Yeah, yeah kitty cat. You don't scare me!" I taunted, moving away from Pegasus. She growled and pounced. I rolled out of the way and spun and sunk my dagger into her paw. She yelped and roared fire. I tried to move, but I was too slow. My back and right arm exploded with white hot pain. I threw off the tin foil shield and yanked off my still burning jacket, and with my good arm threw my knife at her face. It landed in her eye and she painfully clawed at it until it clattered to the floor. I grabbed it and staggered underneath her belly. I paused only for a moment and slashed her hind legs with a knife. She rose up and spun to face me. I limped in front of a now panicked Pegasus and raised my knives in front of me. Chimera roared and swiped its claws. I ducked and covered my head and heard the bars snap. I laughed and jumped in. Pegasus whinnied and rose up on his back hooves.

"Hey, hey! Calm down, I'm a friend!" I picked up the bridle and showed him and he calmed down almost immediately. I quickly and slipped it on his muzzle and cut the canvas bonds from his wings. We exploded from the gaping entrance and flew above Chimera's head. She roared and blew fire again, but Pegasus gracefully dodged the red plume. We circled around behind her and I reared my left arm behind me and let the javelin fly into a spot between her shoulder blades. She stood still for a moment before collapsing onto her side. I heaved my chest and smiled.

"Good Pegasus." I scratched behind his ear and he neighed happily. I pulled the reins and made him fly by the Chimera for the javelin before heading to the hunting department where Medea was waiting.

"Since when does neutralizing include destroying half of my store?" She quipped, tapping her foot. I glared and slid off Pegasus' flank.

"Since when did 50 foot Chimera's count as "pests"?" I snapped back, pulling Pegasus past her.

"Where are you going?" She hissed. I rolled my eyes and stopped next to a wide chariot. That could fit a couple people…

"Where are you going?" she seethed, pausing after each word. I pulled out the deep blue chariot and hooked it up to Pegasus.

"Hey! I said you could take Pegasus, that's all!" Her green eyes flashed. I wiggled back up onto Pegasus' back, not saying a word.

"You will listen to me child!" She screamed. I turned around, and with the last bit of my strength, snapped my fingers. Dark clouds swirled into existence and static filled the air. Medea looked up at the oncoming storm as her hair curled into tight knots. Thunder crashed and lighting stuck a clothes rack while rain down poured. I laughed and let the cool rain trickle down my face and my now exposed back (thanks to Chimera). Medea screamed as Pegasus and I flew up to the glass sky light. It shattered when a bolt of lightning struck it and glittering dust fell as we flew through the panes. The sunlight blinded me for a second but my eyes quickly adjusted. The wind blew my hair out of my face and I screamed with happiness. Wind is what freedom feels like, not some dank tunnel. Pegasus agreed and started bucking with excitement. I laughed and surveyed the ground. We were in Canada! I recognized it from a time I had crossed the border running away. I didn't get far before the royal guard caught up with me. Great, another 5 hour trip. I rolled my eyes and leaned into Pegasus' ear.

"Can you get me back to my friends?" I whispered. He whinnied and in a flash, we were going at lightning speed. I took a deep breath and relaxed, hugging Pegasus' neck. In about 20 minutes we were flying over the Atlantic, we were going fast. I closed my eyes and hoped that we'd just be fast enough to reach everyone else.


	20. Saph pov

We'd been walking for hours on a pact dirt road and it was hot. Even in the shade of the towering Black Forest trees was boiling.

"Are you sure we're not lost?" Nico groaned taking another swig from his water bottle. He'd ditched his aviator jacket and had it tied around his hips.

"Well we don't have a map and-"Troy stopped short. We were all still down from Paris. Kori hadn't showed up in the past three days and we had no idea how to find her. The only good thing was that with V and Nico, being children of Hades, knew that she was still breathing. Probably the hardest thing was calling back home to tell everyone, worst Iris message ever. We somehow managed to cross the France/Germany border and were toddling through the famous Black Forest. I can see why the Grimm brothers based all their stories here, it was terrifyingly beautiful.

"We should stop for the day." V suggested, rubbing her temples. She hadn't slept in days and she didn't have her usual made up face, the left over mascara stained the creases by her eyes.

"I agree, it's getting too hot and none of us can afford to get heat stroke." Jacob chimed as he wiped his brow.

"Just hang in there a little longer, there's a creek nearby." I assured them, pointing to the right. The party groaned but trudged forward. Ten minutes later a little stream appeared through the thick greenery and everyone jumped into the refreshing cool.

"Hey, hey guys!" I cheered. They all turned and were greeted with a monstrous wave.

"Nuh uh, no fair!" V laughed, shoving her hair from her face.

"Get her!" Troy yelled and suddenly was charged by four soaked demi gods.

"You'll never take me alive!" I screamed, throwing another wave at them. Troy was the only one who dodged it and picked me up by my waist and threw me over his shoulder.

"I have overcome the mighty water spirit! Challenge me if you dare!" He cheered, beating his chest like King Kong. I laughed and made a current grip his ankle and made him slip.

"Who overcame the mighty water spirit?" I teased, standing over him.

"Not me." He coughed as I helped him back up. We all hopped out of the creek and hid behind bushes to change into dry clothes, well except me because I'm awesome.

"So," I said as everyone hopped over some shrubs with wet shirts over their arms, "Does anyone know how to start a fire?"

"Anyone have any matches or something?" V asked as she shoved her hair from her face.

"Uh, I think I got a lighter in my backpack." Troy said trotting over to his backpack.

"Hold on, hold on. I know they're here somewhere." He insisted, digging his arm deeper into his stuffed bag.

"Well I'm gonna grab some dry twigs, care to join me?" V asked laying her clothes across a fir tree branch.

"Yeah, sure. I think I saw a dead tree on the way here." I said linking arms with her as Troy dumped the contents of his backpack. It was nice just to talk with V again, I'm so glad that something good came out of Paris. A few minutes later we saw the cracked, grey tree and got to work.

"So," I grunted as I chopped at a branch with my sword, "You and Jacob seem to be getting awfully chummy." V's face flushed before she regained her composure. Oh yeah, gotcha.

"Well what about you and Troy?" She raised an eyebrow and cocked her hip. "How much longer are you two gonna dance around it?" she snapped a twig for effect. I took a deep breath and quit hacking at the tree.

"I don't know. We just get so close to saying it and then something happens." I jumped onto the branch making it split. V huffed and made a serious look.

"Then make it happen. You know that pirate movie you made me stay up until 3 am to watch?" I wiped the sweat from my head and leaned on Tsunami.

"Pirates of the Caribbean? What practical advice can you get from that? Hide the rum better?" She snorted, almost dropping the wood.

"Uh, no. I mean when the brunette version of Legolas and Elizabeth got married while in the middle of a sword fight. They made it happen, now you go to him and lay it all out!" She puffed out her chest and stood there. I raised an eyebrow and pointed at the pile of wood we'd accumulated.

"You mean right now?" I questioned.

"Oh gods no." She scoffed, "You're gonna help me carry this wood back first then you can mack on Troy to your hearts content." She grinned smugly. I felt my face get red and punched her shoulder.

"I hate you." I laughed. She smiled and handed me a log.

"I hate you too." She said, kicking my butt. When we got back the sun was dipping below the trees, it almost felt like camp. Except that Troy was pouting next to a rock while Jacob stuck a few twigs into the fire.

"How'd you guys get a fire going?" V asked while she sat the pile of wood by Nico who was trying to read the Chamber of Secrets. Troy looked up with his lower lip sticking out.

"You guys find a lighter?" I asked, handing Jacob a little branch.

"No, my mom signed me up for Boy Scouts back in Kansas. Thought it'd make me less of a delinquent." He shrugged.

"He used my Doritos as kindling!" Troy puffed.

"Oh come on Troy, there's plenty left for you to eat." Jacob rolled his eyes.

"But those are still 3 nacho cheesey morsels of goodness that I won't get to eat!" He whined.

"Between you and me, those were 3 cheesey morsels that you didn't need." V said, patting her stomach. Nico and Jacob choked as they cracked up while Troy curled up into another pout.

"It's ok Troy, you're perfect just the way you are." I said, leaning down to peck him on the cheek.

"Oh how sweet." I jerked my head around and saw Thamryis leaning against a thick oak tree.

"How'd you get here?" Nico growled. Thamryis chuckled and lit a cigarette.

"You're not the only one who's allowed to travel you know. You're not looking so hot doll." he pointed to V with the red butt of his cigarette. V's cheeks tinged pink as she raised her chin.

"Don't have your usual snappy comebacks or face I see." He sucked the cigarette and blew a smoke ring to the dust colored sky. Jacob suddenly picked up a nearby rock and slugged it at Thamryis' face but it just barely missed and bounced off the bark next to his ear.

"You need to keep your boy toy in check there doll. He could have hit me with that." Jacob puffed his chest out in defiance.

"You know, you're little friend Carrie-"

"Kori. Her name is Kori." Nico corrected. Thamryis shrugged and took another puff.

"Well she almost hit me with a bolt of lightning. Lost a whole cig because of that." He scowled.

"Good for her." I said. She went down with a fight, good girl.

"But she hasn't showed her little spotted face though I see." He smiled.

"That's enough Thamryis." Troy said raucously.

"You had your little gloat now leave." He said as he stepped in front of me. In most cases I'd move and stand next to Troy but I felt safer knowing that Thamryis couldn't oogle me.

"Fine, fine." He threw his hands in front of him, "But I just wanna drop something off before I go." Suddenly birds flew from the trees, cawing a warning.

"Bye bye." Thamryis chuckled before sinking in to the trunk of the tree.

"Get ready!" I yelled letting Tsunami loose. Just as everyone got armed, ear shattering sounds of trees splintering broke through the tranquil forest. A matted, scarred lion head broke through the clearing. Its hind legs bucked as its head roared and serpent tail hissed.

"Chimera!" V screamed, shooting an arrow. It growled and swatted her arrow away like it was an annoying gnat.

"Croatia formation, now!" Troy yelled as he sprinted to the left. Nico ran behind Troy as Jacob and I ran to the right. Chimera roared again and swiped at the boys to the left, who luckily dodged it. V ran in front of the Chimera.

"Hey, ugly!" She yelled as she pulled back an arrow. She turned her head, roaring, and V sent the arrow flying. It pierced her ear and Chimera squealed.

"Yeah!" Jacob cheered next to me. The victory didn't last long. A deep rumble came from Chimera's throat and a ball of fire swirled from her jaws.

"V!" I screamed. In a snap, she sank through the ground and stumbled from a shadow in between Jacob and me.

"Please tell me that thing didn't singe my eyebrows off." She joked between gasps. Chimera leaned into the ground where V had stood moments ago, clawing at the ground to find her missing kitty toy. Troy let loose a horde of arrows while Nico charged at her hind legs. Nico slashed her left hind leg and Troy had just released another lightning fast shaft. She roared and her serpent tail sent Nico spiraling into a thick oak tree while sending Troy in the opposite direction. She roared again and fire shot from her mouth and caught the treetops on fire.

"Troy!" I yelled, surging forward. Chimera swiveled her head and spewed another hot column.

"Down!" V ordered as she grabbed both Jacob and I by the backs of our necks and sent us spinning through an inky portal that let out next to the creek. I slipped backwards and felt the cool creek current wrap around my ankle. Water…

"Hey, take cover! I got an idea." I said, backing deeper into the rushing stream. V nodded and ducked behind Jacob who had his shield above the both of them.

"Here kitty, kitty." I taunted, waving my sword like a flag. Chimera growled and bared her teeth.

"Yeah, you! You wimpy puddy tat! Come and get me!" I retorted. Her growl boomed and she pounced forward. I jumped backwards and widened my stance; I only had one shot at this…

"Saph! What are you doing?" I heard Troy cry a few hundred feet away. Chimera's throat rumbled and an orange sphere began to form at the back of her open mouth.

"This!" I thrusted my arms up and water shot at Chimera's mouth like a rocket. Boiling water gurgled from the sides of her jaws and steam swirled from her nostrils.

"Not so tough without that breath are you?" I teased as I shot another wave at her. She whined and recoiled away from the stream.

"What's the matter? Scared of getting wet?" I smiled. Her eyes narrowed and suddenly leapt and smacked me out of the water with a massive paw. I think I hit some shale or something because my vision went black for a couple moments.

"Hey, you ok?" I heard V say as I wobbled up.

"Apparently she really didn't want to get wet." I joked, blinking until I could see straight. V took a sigh of relief.

"Well, that was ridiculously stupid of you, but it worked. She can't breathe fire anymore." She smiled, helping me up. The boys were fighting ferociously, but weren't getting anywhere and were getting worn down. Fast.

"How are we supposed to beat her? Belleraphon was the only hero who ever actually beat her!" V said as she notched another arrow.

"I'm not sure." I grunted, sending sharp missiles of water at Chimera. Chimera howled and spun like the world's most dangerous top. I heard Troy yell and saw him go tumbling into a thicket of brier bushes.

"Troy!" I sprinted from the creek bringing a wall of water with me.

"Watch out!" Jacob's voice called. I sent the wall straight at Chimera's face without looking. I had to get to Troy. I saw a sandy blob from the corner of my eye and slid on my knees just as Chimera's paw swooped over my head.

"Troy!" I hacked a path through the thick brush. Troy was sprawled in the middle, knocked out cold.

"Troy, hey, Troy!" I lifted his head and patted his cheek with my free hand. He groaned and winced as he opened his eyes.

"Well, we snuck into the bushes and I'm pretty sure no one noticed." He chuckled. I scoffed and rubbed my thumb on his cheek.

"Yeah, spinning into the woods because a giant mythological goat-cat hit you. Totally inconspicuous." I snickered. For a second, it was like it was just us. No giant monster, no fighting, just us surrounded by silvery leaves. I could tell he thought the same thing. I leaned over his face, our noses just a hair apart when a scream sliced through the air. We jumped and tumbled out of the brush and saw that Chimera was winning. Jacob was flat on his back with his shield about a hundred feet away, Nico was nowhere to be seen and V was hanging upside down by Chimera's tail.

"V!" I screamed. My stomach boiled and everything went red. I charged, yelling like a maniac and started swinging my sword like a loose propeller. I don't remember actually ever hitting her, but I really pissed her off. She bucked her hind legs and smacked me as her hoof came back down.

"Saph!" I heard Troy's feet running towards me. My head spun as he helped me sit up.

"What's that?" Troy asked, confused.

"Wha?" I held my head and squinted. OK, I had to have a concussion because I saw a set of hundred foot white wing s and potentially the bottom of the Tardis.

"It's Kori!" Troy cheered. I shot up instantly. Kori had picked up Pegasus, the Pegasus, and somehow found Nico along the way. I saw a flash and saw Chimera's rear end shiver and saw V drop but Kori steered Pegasus and Nico caught her.

"Yeah!" I cried, jumping onto my feet. I saw Kori turn her head and yell something at Nico before standing up on Pegasus' back. She looked like she'd run through a trench with spikes. Her shirt's entire back was ripped out and charred, her arms and legs had little red lines all over them and had neon paint splatters covered her shoes and ankles.

"When I give the signal, attack!" She yelled over the wind, raising a javelin above her head. I crinkled my forehead and cupped my hands around my mouth.

"What signal?" I shouted back, confused. To answer, she jumped off her horse. Which was about 3 stories off the ground. She flew at Chimera and sunk the javelin through her black nose like a really painful piercing. Troy and I stood there agape.

"Did she just..?" Troy whimpered.

"Yeah, yeah she did." I whispered, actually really impressed. Kori's legs kicked and shot her head over her shoulder.

"Now, you dumb-dumbs! That was the signal!" She barked and jerked down on the shaft and made Chimera whine as her head was pulled down from the piercing. We snapped back into reality and charged. I swiped at her back legs and Troy shot an arrow at her flank. Kori jerked back on the javelin again and brought Chimera's front legs down flat onto the ground. Chimera jerked her head just as Troy let loose another arrow, but it grazed Kori's hand and she fell onto Chimera's paw.

"Kori!" I yelled and ran to Chimera's side and sunk my sword in between her ribs. She roared and nearly rolled over onto me if I hadn't run so fast. I sprinted around and skidded to a stop between Troy and Kori.

"Now what? Oh, and great to see you again Kori." I grinned, she looked exhausted, but gave me a smirk.

"Yeah, great to see ya." Troy agreed, smacking her on the back. She yipped and seized her back up, which was the first time that I actually got a good look at her back. It was burned, badly. I'm not gonna go into much detail because just thinking about it makes me wanna barf.

"Oh gods!" Troy exclaimed, grabbing his hand as though it were burned and not Kori's back.

"Yeah," she hissed, slowly loosening her back up, "We'll talk about it later. Getting rid of Chimera comes first." Her eyes widened for a sec before giving another little side smirk.

"Distract her, I got an idea." She ordered. Troy and I didn't hesitate and got to work. We both ran to one side, making as much noise as possible. Jacob actually woke up and after taking a moment to explain to him, he jumped right in and started screaming like a banshee. I looked up and saw Kori gliding above Chimera's head and ripped off her necklace. The python teeth! I'd completely forgotten about them. She kept rising in the air until I was dizzy and she suddenly dropped like one of those crazy amusement park rides before coming to a sudden stop between Chimera's shoulder blades. Chimera froze for a second before screaming like a million balloons and turned to sand. Kori fell onto the ground and we all cheered. Nico and V trotted to the ground on Pegasus next to Kori.

"She got the bitch!" V cheered as she hopped off Pegasus. Nico ran over to Kori and pulled her into a hug. I have never seen him willing to hug anyone that wasn't family. But she yelped in pain so she kinda ruined the moment. Poor Nico, he looked like he was about to jump out of his skin.

"Kori, how'd you find him?" V asked, wobbling a little bit. She had a cut that ran from her temple diagonally to the middle of her forehead.

"Well, Pegasus serves the Muses, right?" She gestured and, hearing his name, trotted over and nudged his head against her. "Athena gave Belleraphon the golden bridle and where better to hide it than with her right hand girl, Nike?" She sighed and rested her head onto his cheek.

"Well, welcome back." I grinned.

"Oh! What day is it? And does anyone have any food and or ibuprofen?" she asked, putting a hand on her stomach.

"Uh, I think it's the 2nd." Troy answered, unsure. Her face fell a little.

"Wait, it's not my birthday anymore and I haven't eaten in 3 days?" She whined. I laughed and gingerly put a hand on her shoulder.

"Well, we saved your backpack but not all of us were so lucky." Nico said. We turned and saw Kori's pristine backpack in one hand and Troy's still smoking pack in the other.

"Oh gods, you're kidding me?" Troy moaned. I went over and saw that not only was Troy's bag cinders but so were mine and Nico's.

"Well, looks like you're not getting any Doritos now." Jacob joked awkwardly. V raised an eyebrow at him.

"Just trying to lighten the mood." He responded sheepishly.

"You're kidding me." I huffed, rubbing my face. Half of our supplies, and clothes, were gone. Kori suddenly gasped and her irises glowed gold.

"We gotta go, now." She ordered, trying to get on Pegasus.

"Why? None of us are in any shape to go anywhere and because we now have, maybe, 2 ounces of nectar I don't know if I can use the water to patch any of you up!" I replied. Clio must not be in her right mind if she thinks that we can go anywhere aside from a doctors.

"You think it's a coincidence that the Grimm brothers made all of those stories, all of those monsters, up from their heads? They're creative, but not that creative." She retorted, trying to hop onto Pegasus' flank.

"Yeah, that and I think that someone's gonna notice that the forest is on fire." V snorted, gesturing to the trees that looked like dancing birthday candles in the dusk. I nodded and grabbed the bridle from Kori.

"Ok, where to?" I asked as her eyes flashed again.

"Geneva, Switzerland is neutral so there shouldn't be any attacks." She answered, letting go of the reins.

"Does it work that way?" I heard Jacob ask in a hushed voice next to V who shrugged.

"Alright, you heard the lady. Everyone pile in the chariot." I ordered.

"Except one of you needs to sit up with Saph, not all of us will fit." Kori said as she pulled Troy to the side and pushed him towards me. She grinned wickedly and mouthed "You're welcome" before turning her back to us. I felt my face turn red and decided to get a little even.

"Hey, Kori! Where's your bra?" I teased. She froze and stiffly turned her head to reveal a glaring tomato face.

"It was on fire!" She squawked before shuffling to the chariot with her arms crossed defensively. Troy and I choked on laughter before he helped me up onto the flank. I leaned next to Pegasus ear, brushing his pale gold hair from my face.

You think you can get us to Geneva? I asked. He whinnied and shook with excitement.

"We're good!" I heard V yell from the chariot. I grinned and gave Pegasus a little kick. He leaned back onto his front legs and shook his butt a bit before shooting into the air like a rocket. In less than a minute the Black forest looked like a glowing match in the distant. Usually being in the air freaked me out, but being on Pegasus and having Troy's arms around my waist and chin on my shoulder, well I had other things on my mind. Better things, hopefully the hard part of the quest was over and it would be smoother from here on out.


	21. V pov

Despite the turbulence in the chariot and the killer headache I had, the flight wasn't so bad. I hated flying, not that I'd ever tell anyone. It just freaked me out that the ground wouldn't be there if I stuck my foot out. But I think that since we were riding with Pegasus that he was really the only reason I wasn't huddled in a corner, hyperventilating. I looked over at Jacob; the very top of his head just peeked over the top of the chariot and his hair looked even more pale than usual. I mean he was covered in dirt and sweat, but somehow his hair always seemed like strands of silver or gold. Maybe it was his smile; he always seemed to wear one. He turned his head suddenly and smirked.

"Hey, what cha looking at?" he questioned. I chuckled and set my cheek in my hand.

"Nothing." I lied. He grinned and looked back up at the violet stained sky.

"The stars are gorgeous from up here." He said in awe. I scooted a little closer to him and tilted my head.

"I think that's a cell tower, Jacob." I joked, he scoffed and gave me a little push. Nico and Kori were sleeping soundly, at least Kori was. Nico came in and out, rolling his head before resting back onto the side. Jacob had fished an extra t-shirt out of his bag when we first had taken off and given it to Kori since hers was crumbling by the minute. He was a real sweetheart, he put others first rather than himself. Glad to know chivalry wasn't quite dead yet.

"You know, I think you're right. It is a cell tower." He agreed, squinting his eyes.

"Maybe if you actually looked up more…" I took his hand and pointed it more skywards. A few stars were breaking through the twilight, there would be more soon.

"Kinda reminds me of my farm back home." He whispered. I pulled my backpack behind me and laid down on it to get a better view. I wish my legs weren't so cramped, there's hardly any room in here!

"What was it like?" I asked. He leaned back on his bag and folded his hands on his stomach.

"Well, it's in the middle of nowhere for one. But the sky was always so alive." I smiled, he looked happy talking about home.

"For a while it was just my mom, grandparents, and I. My grandpa taught me how to drive a tractor when I was 8."

"Not the best decision." I teased. He laughed in agreement.

"Yeah, he also helped me get kicked out of Boy Scouts." He choked on laughter.

"He sounds pretty awesome." I laughed, his expression darkened.

"He was. He died when I was 15. Something about his pacemaker." His voice was soft. I leaned back onto my elbows and looked at him.

"Oh, wow. I'm so sorry." I said sincerely. He turned his head and smiled bitter sweetly.

"It's ok. I mean I still miss him and all but it's ok. It was really hard on my Grandma. She's a strong lady." He said turning his face back to the sky. More of the stars were piercing through the velvety curtain above us. It was peaceful. A few silent moments passed before a thunk came from the other side of the chariot. I shot up and saw that Nico and Kori were using each other as pillows. I snorted and swallowed a laugh back down my throat.

"Oh what I wouldn't give for a camera right now." Jacob joked, framing the two with his fingers. I smiled and then he turned his "camera" at me.

"You know, you have a great smile." He said after he looked up from the frame. I pursed my lips, but their corners turned up anyways.

"Thanks." I said, feeling my ears grow warm. I tucked a curl behind my ear and leaned back again.

"So what was it like growing up in a convent?" Jacob asked, turning his face towards me.

"Well, it wasn't only a convent. It was an orphanage and a school all wrapped up into one. The sisters were really strict. Once, a girl got swatted with a belt because she had a cigarette in her pocket."

"Ouch, really?" He winced.

"Yeah. I guess they were ok once you got used to them, they just really needed to lighten up." I replied with a shrug.

"So, when were you born then?" He asked, twisting his mouth a bit.

"1928. I'm technically three years older than Nico, but he won't have it." I said off-handedly.

"Well, for an eighty-five year old, you look pretty good." He cracked, running a hand through his hair.

"Why thank you." I laughed. I saw him open his mouth to ask another question, but he slammed it shut immediately. I knew what he was thinking.

"So I guess you're wondering why I grew up in an orphanage?" I asked looking up at him.

"Yeah, but I didn't know if it was a touchy subject or not." He answered sheepishly. I took a deep breath and looked back up at the sky.

"Nah, it's ok. My mom, from what I know anyways, didn't exactly have a stable income or a place to sleep every night. So when she had me, she knew she couldn't take care of me, so she gave me to the sisters." I answered, feeling melancholy. I didn't think about her too much, I only know that her name was Rosa Fuertes. I've seen pictures of her from the Ellis Island immigration files; she was beautiful and had a warm smile. It must have killed her to give me up.

"Oh, geez. That really, really sucks." He said empathetically. I shrugged and tried to convince him that I didn't care.

"You know, it's ok to be upset about it. You don't have to pretend." He said seriously. I jerked my head to him and widened my eyes a smidge. Well, I guess he's more observant than I give him credit for.

"I got cha, didn't I?" He smirked mischievously, blue shadows danced in the crevices of his dimples. I rolled my eyes and flicked his nose.

"Just this once, I'll let you have this one." I teased. He did a quick fist pump and mouthed yes!, I chuckled and looked back up. All the stars were out in all their blazing glory now. I heard Troy and Saph talking, their voices were quick and hushed. Something's not right. I sat up and pulled myself to my feet.

"Hey, what-" suddenly a giant, grey blur flew past Pegasus' flank and shook the chariot. I yelped and fell backwards onto Jacob's stomach.

"Oh, gods, sorry!" I apologized as he coughed, clutching his stomach.

"The hell was that?" Jacob managed to wheeze before unfolding himself. Kori and Nico jolted awake, blinking in confusion. Another blur flashed by, but this time it grazed the supports for the chariot and the left draught pole crackled.

"Rock giants!" I heard Saph holler over the wind. I whipped my head over to Kori.

"I thought we weren't supposed to run into any trouble!" I shouted, gripping the side of the chariot.

"Hey! I know history, not the future! Complain to Urania, not me!" She cried as the chariot ricocheted from the blast. Another boulder flew by, Pegasus managed to dodge it but he didn't see the other. It clipped his right wing and made him spiral downwards.

"Pegasus!" Kori screamed making her way to the front of the chariot. He whinnied before managing to steady himself out but it was like he was treading water, bobbing up and down like a buoy. Then I heard a creaking sound before a violent snap and the chariot flipped sideways and was hanging under Pegasus' legs. Jacob yelled as he fell backwards, but I managed to grab him by his backpack strap.

"Someone do something!" I shrieked, clinging to the wheel. Nico climbed onto the top and grabbed the hitch with Kori in tow.

"Take the bridle off and throw it to me!" Kori yelled at Saph, who didn't hesitate and instantly slung off the bridle and threw it to Kori.

"Now when I say now, jump! All of you!" She added as the bridle shrunk into a leather strap around her wrist.

"Wait, what?" I yelled, tightly. I looked back down at Jacob. His knuckles were white and his eyes were wide with fear.

"Don't let go!" His voice was thick. I wrapped the strap around my wrist and gripped tighter.

"Now!" I heard Kori's voice echo like a symbol as Nico sliced the other draught pole like it was a piece of celery. I pushed off, sending the carriage spinning to the ground. I wrapped my arms around Jacob's shoulders and buried my face in his neck. The wind picked up and began swirling around us like a whirlpool. I looked up and saw Kori standing on the air, her face was scrunched and red in concentration and her hands were clenched fists.

"Oh gods." Jacob said in awe. I was speechless; this had to be hard for her. But she seemed to have a good grasp, we were slowing down. We were about 100 feet from the treetops when the wind began to die. Kori kept trying but she sputtered out and went limp in the air and we went spiraling to the ground. I looked at Nico for a split second and both of us knew what to do. In moments a black sheet caught us and we slammed into the ground at a safe distance. I hissed through my teeth and grabbed my head as Jacob scrambled off of me.

"Everyone ok?" I croaked, trying to sit up. I heard some noise from Saph and Troy and Nico's feet scratch the ground in frenzy. I turned and saw him sit Kori up, she slumped against his chest.

"She's fine. What about you?" he asked a little panicked. I waved him off and Nico sighed with relief. Before I could stand Jacob pulled me up and into a firm hug.

"You didn't let go. Thank you." He whispered in my ear before helping me up. I turned and looked at Saph, she was ok, and then I looked Troy dead in the eye, looked at Kori, then back at him. But he just bit his lip and jerked his head away.

"Someone needs to go and find supplies. I saw some lights before we were attacked." Nico said, looking up from Kori.

"Troy and I seem to be in the best shape, we can go." Saph offered up, pointing behind her. But I shook my head, much to my heads dismay.

"No, Troy needs to stay here with Kori. If she wakes up, I'm sure he can whip something up to help her out. Jacob and I will go. I can cover my scratch with my hair." I assured them, flattening my hair against my forehead. Saph still didn't look convinced.

"Plus I have all of the cash." I said as I tossed my backpack off. She finally gave in and told us to be careful. I grabbed a wad of euros and pulled Jacob behind me as Troy and Saph went into the woods to find some herbs and Kori's backpack. Luckily, we'd landed about a mile from a cute little town just barely inside the Switzerland border. It was nestled against a green covered mountain with houses that had burnt orange roofs.

"Wow, it's like a story book!" Jacob awed. They had yellow paper lanterns lining the narrow streets; I guess some sort of local festival was going on. People were laughing down the street at nothing and smiling with their families. Must be nice to just take a break.

"Well hopefully we won't have any more attacks and can actually enjoy this place." I said, bumping into his shoulder. He smiled and shoved me back. We crossed a stone cobbled bridge and took a left onto the next street.

"Do you have any idea where we're going?" Jacob asked, leaning to the right. I patted some curls above the cut to assure its secrecy and shrugged.

"We'll know it when we see it." I replied. The shop windows looked like something out of a picture book, wheels of cheese stood proudly on display while manikins gave blank stares at the people in the streets. We finally came across a tourist help place with a red "English spoken here" sticker in the corner of the front window. The man behind the counter had a round pink face and shaggy blond hair. He was more than happy to give us a map and tell us in excruciating detail all of the local attractions. It felt like 10 years had passed by the time we ran out the door.

"That guy was way too friendly!" Jacob said skipping ahead of me, "What's the map say?" I unfolded the shiny paper and scanned for a general store, or Walgreens. Do they have Walgreens in Switzerland?

"Ah! Here, about three blocks from here." I snapped it shut and stuffed the paper into my back pocket. The locals were all blonde and smiley, each of them waved to us as we passed by. We turned right and came to another bridge. I smiled and jumped onto the thick cement side and swung around a light pole.

"What are you doing?" Jacob chuckled as I leaned off the side.

"I have always wanted to do this. Let me have my moment." I teased as I started walking towards the other side. He raised his hand up and offered it to me.

"I'll let you have your moment so long as you don't fall." He grinned mischievously. I rolled my eyes but accepted his offer and gripped his hand. It felt nice, his hand was warm and just slightly clammy. Poor boy isn't too suave with the girls. Good. I felt some sort of pride that I seemed to be his first attempt at the female species. We swung our arms and the passing natives smiled and pointed at us. At the end of the bridge I was about to hop off when Jacob grabbed my waist and lifted me up to the ground. But he slipped and ended up half-dropping me. On second thought, I wish I wasn't the guinea pig.

"I meant to do that." He said real fast. I raised an eyebrow and he cracked up. I smiled and pulled myself back upright. Jacob still had his hands on my waist and slowly leaned his face closer to mine until our foreheads bumped. His ears turned a little pink and he leaned just a little closer. I really wanted to let him kiss me, I didn't care who was watching. I closed my eyes and leaned just a bit forward. I can take a break from the quest. Just a little break I tried to convince myself. But I couldn't.

"Jacob, stop." I snapped, letting go of his jacket. I pursed my lips and looked up at him, he looked totally confused and humiliated.

"This isn't a good time. It's not the right place." I said as I took his hands off my waist. Red slowly sunk past his adam's apple and he wrung his hands. Why am I such a terrible person?

"Jacob…" I tightened my hands into fists to keep myself from touching him.

"No, you're right. I, it was stupid." He stammered before brushing past me. I trotted after him and swung in front of him.

"Stop. Jacob, I just mean that this moment isn't good." I said exasperatedly. I looked at his still pink face and looked at his lips. Ok, that's not helping. I snapped my head back up to his near violet eyes. Damn, I just can't win.

"As soon as this is over, I want to go to the cinema with you. No arguments." I blurted out. His eyes crinkled just enough for a whisper of a dimple appeared next to the corner of his eye.

"Cinema? Really?" he snickered. I laughed and pushed his shoulder gently.

"Yes, really." I replied softly. Jacob grinned sheepishly and I smiled back. He leaned slightly forward until I could feel his breath against my ear.

"Promise?" he whispered. I looked down and grabbed his hand and interlocked our fingers.

"This," I raised our hands up to face level, "is the promise."

Jacob and I were still holding hands when we got back to the camp, but we were surprised by a group of white tents and prowling wolves.

"What's going on?" I asked setting the tote bag of supplies down. Saph ran from a flap of a tent with a smile.

"The huntresses of Artemis are here, don't ask me how but they are!" she added when she saw my look. She shot a look at Jacob and mines hands and smiled devilishly. I just rolled my eyes and raised an eyebrow. Thalia, their leader, had just stepped out of he adjacent tent and started walking over. Her raven hair was a choppy pixie with blue stripes tickling her brow and had a sort of silver tiara encircling her head.

"Vanessa, hey!" She greeted putting a hand on my shoulder.

"How'd you guys get here?" I questioned as Jacob and I simultaneously let go of each other's hands.

"Well Jason called me up and Artemis was more than willing to help her fellow sisters," she tapped my head sympathetically, "so here we are."

"Is she here?" I said a little panicked, looking around. Thalia shook her head and I let out a sigh of relief.

"So, you met Kori then?" I inquired.

"Yeah, she's crazy! Taking on a Chimera? I think she just one uped Jason on stupidity!" She laughed jokingly.

"She's in that tent," she pointed to the tent that she'd just exited from," She's being patched up. She's gonna have to get creative to explain her back to others. The burn's worse than we'd hoped but she'll be fine." She explained. I looked up and saw Troy peering out from another tent and he jerked his head, quietly asking me to see him. After a few moments I handed off the groceries to Jacob and excused myself and walked past the tent Troy was in. A second later he was crawling out from beneath the white canvas and stood in front of me.

"Why didn't you help the medic?" I snapped quietly.

"I'm not a bad person! I told you I can't always glow on demand!" he lowered his brow. I took a deep breath and rubbed the space between my eyes.

"You know what?" I looked up at him, "I'm done. I'm not doing this anymore. I'm tired of it." Troy blinked in surprise. I started to walk off but he grabbed my wrist and looked me in the eye.

"You're not gonna tell her are you?" he begged. I shoved his hand off me and crossed my arms. Troy took a deep breath and put his hands up.

"Look, I get that you're mad, and you have a right to be-"

"Damn right I do!" I interjected.

"But please, just keep this between us." He pleaded. I uncrossed my arms and rested them on my hips.

"Troy, I'm not mad at you, I'm tired of being angry." His face lit up for a moment.

"I'm disappointed." I retorted with an edge, deflating Troy's glimmer of hope.

"If someone else gets hurt or-" I cut myself off, I didn't want to think about anything worse than a few scratches. I took a breath and continued, "If someone else gets hurt, that's your fault. You can deal with the guilt." I growled and turned away before he could answer. I raised my chin and walked back to Jacob and Saph. I felt like a weight was lifted from my chest, I was no longer Troy Avalon's secret keeper and I was relieved beyond words.


	22. Kori Pov

I don't really remember much after the chariot turned into a pile of splinters but Nico told me that I went unconscious while the wind was holding us. Well, at least when it was holding us. But him and V saved our butts from turning into a pile of demi-god mush at the last second. When I woke up I was flat on my stomach on a portable cot in a white canvas tent. Of course I freaked out and started yelling for Saph or Nico when I heard someone clear their throat. I rolled over and saw a girl around 13 with mahogany colored skin with a first aid kit in hand.

"You may not want to run out there just yet." She advised, pointing at my bare torso.

"Oh.. Yeah you may be right." I agreed, completely embarrassed, "Wait, who are you?" I asked, grabbing the sheet that was next to me.

"I'm Agatha, the medic. So please let me do my job." She said with a gentle affirmation that made her seem older. So I lay back down on the cot and propped my chin on my forearms. Agatha put some sort of salve on my back that smelled like mint, I winced at first but it quickly cooled into a relaxing numb.

"You're going to have one wild scar, if you keep moisturizing it, it should fade a bit." She said after a while. I nodded and stared at the "wall" in front of me.

"So, really? Who are you medic for?" I questioned, tired of the silence.

"The Lady Artemis, I am one of the huntresses." Agatha answered coolly.

"Really? That's so awesome!" I said excitedly. She chuckled and returned her attention back to my burn. The white flap billowed open and another girl, about my age but a couple inches taller, with a punk haircut walked in. She had a silver circlet on her head and a peppering of freckles across her cheeks and nose. Her eyes seemed freakishly familiar…

"Kori?" She asked, striding over.

"Yeah, that's me." I answered a little puzzled. Her eyes were really throwing me off.

"I'm Thalia, your sister." She smiled, dragging a stool over. That's why she seemed familiar! She had the same lips as Jason and apparently she and I shared the same freckles.

"Hi! Jason told me about you! You're a huntress too? This is so cool!" I exclaimed like an excited 8 year old. Agatha made a noise that told me to quit squirming and I had to calm down.

"So I heard you took on a Chimera?" She stated, leaning back. I nodded and told the whole story to her. When I finally wrapped it up, Thalia was practically glowing with sisterly pride.

"That's freakin awesome!" She cried, slapping her knee.

"I like your spunk, kid." I smiled at the compliment, content with myself.

"Alright, I'm all done putting the balm on you, all that needs to be done is to wrap you up." Agatha said as she screwed the lid back onto the container. Dogs started barking and Thalia went out just as V and Saph's voices bubbled through the air. I was antsy to get out of the tent and be with the rest of my friends. Agatha quipped at me quite a few times for moving.

"Young people these days…" she huffed under her breath, I figured that the huntresses, once accepted, never aged past that age. Dang, wonder what that's like. A few minutes later my back was all wrapped up and Agatha started working on my arm. When she was nearly done, Saph and V walked in.

"Good morning sunshine." V teased, handing me a granola bar. I grinned and tore open the package, I still hadn't eaten in technically 3 days and was ravenous.

"Jeez kid, don't choke!" Saph warned like a mom. Agatha double tapped my shoulder to let me know she was done and gathered her kit back up.

"Thanks Agatha!" I said as she walked out the tent.

"So everyone's ok then, right?" I asked between bites. They nodded and I sighed with relief.

"That was pretty impressive. You seem to be getting better at controlling your powers." V complimented, ruffling my hair.

"Thanks, but we were almost dirt stains because of me." I swallowed the last of the granola bar and crinkled up the wrapping.

"But we weren't, besides you just figured out that you could even do that. The first week of camp I accidentally flooded half the cabins." Saph piped in. We all cracked up as I hoisted myself off the cot. We stepped out of the tent just as Thalia was walking towards us. She tossed me a North Face windbreaker "for my modesty" she said. I didn't see the big deal, there were only 3 boys and 2 of them were clearly into someone else and Nico, well, that's a loss to women everywhere. Speaking of which, he was actually reclined on a log reading a slightly charred Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. He looked up and a flash of relief came over his eyes before waving. Troy and Jacob were arguing over a set of cards laid before them by the bond fire. Totally normal aside from the pack of wolves that circled the camp.

"So what excitement did I miss?" I asked, plopping down next to Nico, messing up his hair.

"Uh, Harry is writing in the diary, but nothing too much. Oh, Thalia has your backpack by the way." He replied, fixing his hair back with mock annoyance.

"Where is she anyways?" I looked around but only saw the other huntresses. They kept shooting me weird looks. Probably due to my lack of a t-shirt.

"I think she's letting Jason know you're fine. Better hope she didn't tell-" Nico was cut off by Thalia yelling.

"Fine, fine! Calm down, she's fine now….Ok, see for yourself."

"Well, forget Jason finding out. That will be fun." He teased, going back to his book just as Thalia poked her head out from another tent. Her hair flipped as she jerked her head telling me to get over there.

"Sorry, I figured he should know." She whispered, holding the tent flap open for me. A bathroom mirror sized Iris message floated above a sprinkler with a very angry looking Jason rippling in it. Thalia patted me on the back for good luck as she left.

"Hey…" I greeted, trying to be non-chalet.

"Why didn't you contact me as soon as you got back? Do you know how worried we all were? Mary about had a heart attack and Piper even went searching through her knife!" He roared.

"Look I couldn't! No one taught me how to use an Iris message for one and two we didn't have time! Forest rangers would have arrested us for arson if we didn't leave." I almost mentioned that I was too tired and forgot, but decided against it.

"I don't care!" he almost yelled. He sighed and rubbed his face. I looked down and rubbed my thumb over the ochre colored band around my wrist.

"Look, I'm new at this whole "older brother" thing. I've been praetor, I've lead quests, but this is new." He said softly. I guess with Thalia, he was the little brother.

"But I'm fine. I bet you've been hurt worse than this," I gestured to myself, "I can take care of myself." I assured him. He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms.

"Ok, ok, for the most part. I got through the Labyrinth by myself and neutralized Chimera by myself. Medea is still mad at you by the way!" I quipped.

"Wait, you met Medea? The Chimera? No one told me that!" His eyes widened with anxiety.

"Oops, um, I'm ok though." I grinned awkwardly. He looked like he was about to fall over when there was some noise in the background. Jason was pushed out of view and Mrs. Carson came into view.

"Mrs. Carson!" I cheered. She smiled with warmth and a wave of relief rushed over her.

"Hi Kori. I'm going to spare you the whole lecture of how much we were worried and safety seeing how Jason already took care of that." She pointed to her left and I heard Jason object.

"Hush you." She directed towards him, "Look. I'm not going to pretend that I'm not upset none of you called right away but what's important is that you're safe and get to Mount Helicon soon. I need you to promise that you'll send us messages whenever you reach each new country." Her eyes were as stormy and serious as a hurricane.

"Yes mamn." I answered, straightening up. She nodded contently and waved goodbye, letting Jason come back into view.

"Yeah, well, what Mary said." He agreed. "I'll see you later, I'm sure you're pretty hungry. Happy Birthday, well, late."

"Thanks, I'll tell everyone you said hi. I'll see you when we get to Austria." And with that, he waved his hand through the image and it rippled into nothing. I took a deep breath and was about to walk out when Clio started talking.

"He killed the Trojan Sea monster you know."

"Of course he did. Betcha he got more than a burn." I grumbled.

"Well, he did get hit in the head with a brick once." She threw in.

"Well that must have hurt." I grimaced, not feeling so annoyed by his big brother-ness. I grinned though as I walked out of the tent.

"Well that was fun." I said sarcastically to Thalia. She grinned and put an arm on my shoulder.

"Oh yeah, very." She replied. We walked passed 2 other young huntresses who were whispering to each other. They suddenly stopped and went rigid when we passed. When we were of out of earshot I looked up at Thalia.

"What's with the huntresses? They all keep giving me weird looks."

"Oh, they just say that you look like one of the other huntress'." She said off-handedly.

"Really? Hey! Maybe I have a twin." I said excitedly. Thalia's eyes smiled.

"Well, while you do look like her, she was 19 when she joined."

"Was?" I questioned.

"Yeah, sadly she died in the Titan war about 5 or 6 years ago." She said bittersweetly.

"Oh, well, that sucks." I said just before my stomach roared. Thalia snorted and laughed like a maniac.

"I think Emma is just about done cooking dinner." She assured me after she'd calmed down.

"Awesome! I'm starved!" I cheered, thinking back to the huntress.

"Hey, what was that girl's name?" I asked. Thalia looked down at me with surprise.

"Lydia. Her name was Lydia."

Dinner was a really awesome game soup. I had 2 bowls and got a lot of really bad hollow leg jokes from Troy.

"You're not gonna be able to move your legs for a week!" He'd say, poking my calf.

"Says the boy who had 3 bowls, you hypocrite!" I'd taunt back.

"I'm a growing boy." He'd argue back.

"I'm a growing girl!" I smacked his shoulder with my empty bowl.

"You hit like a girl." He teased, grabbing my bowl from my hand.

"I would take that back if I were you." Nico warned without looking up from his book. Just as soon as the words left his mouth, one of the girls threw her spoon with deadly accuracy and hit Troy smack dab in the nose. He yelped and frowned as he picked up the spoon.

"We aren't going to take your sexist attitude here, Troy Avalon. We have knives and wolves. What do you have?" She joked freakishly serious. Troy looked at Saph for support but raised her arms and gave him a "You're on your own" look.

"Uh, a pile of dirty dishes?" He offered sheepishly. The girl with brown hair smiled triumphantly.

"I believe you do." She handed him her empty bowl.

"Told you." Nico taunted so quietly that only V and I could hear. Both of us snickered as Troy gathered up the bowls. It was a cool, deep blue night with thousands of white freckles shining from it.

"So, why isn't Artemis here?" Jacob asked Thalia, resting his elbows on his knees.

"I'm not too sure." She shrugged, "She is a goddess, she's got tons of responsibility."

"Well, you guys don't seem as nervous that you're in Europe." He stated.

"Switzerland is neutral, plus Artemis gave us a blessing. We're completely safe." Thalia assured him. Jacob shrugged and nodded in acceptance. Everyone was getting pretty tired and most of us decided to call it a night. The huntresses, since there was only about 5, all slept in the farthest tent away from the boys while V, Saph, and I took the one in the middle. I was too wired; Saph and V had fallen asleep as soon as their head's had hit their pillows. I tried to convince myself that I was tired for a couple hours before I finally gave up and snuck out of the tent and went for a walk. The dirt was nice and cool in between my toes. It was a little windy so I zipped up my jacket as I headed into the woods. I know, I have no idea what's in there, but I figured if I could fight a giant mythological monster that breathes fire, I could handle any woodland creature that came my way. I came into a clearing and lay down on the ground and looked up at the sky. More stars had come out and were dazzling what few inhabitants were still awake at this hour with their beauty. I swirled my hand in the air, tonight reminded me of Van Gough's Starry Night. Wonder if he was a demigod. I heard a twig snap and shot up like a rocket.

"Hello?" I asked to the woods. Silence. I slowly stood up and felt my knives appear in my hands.

"Who's there?" I demanded. The bushes rustled and I was about to throw one when the golden deer leapt from the darkness and strutted over to me.

"You? What are you doing here?" I yelled quietly, returning my knives to rings. "You only show up when there's something bad, heck I don't even know if you're real!" I threw my hands up in the air.

"Kori?" I heard a voice coming from behind me and shot my head back around when the deer started to walk off.

"Oh no you don't!" I hissed, grabbing its antlers. I was going to prove that I was completely sane to whoever just yelled. A moment later, Nico walked through to the clearing and his eyes widened.

"You see it, right?" I demanded, pointing my free hand at the deer, which made some weird burping noise.

"Yeah, that thing's as clear as day!" he squawked, throwing his hands towards it. I let go of the gold antler and shot my hands up in victory.

"Ha! I'm not crazy!" I cheered.

"Maybe, but you're not the smartest." He replied, pointing past me. I turned and saw the deer trotting off and ran after it, Nico in tow.

"Come back here!" I yelled, jumping over a log. It made sharp turns and seemed to be enjoying itself. Eventually the deer turned and we stumbled back to the camp. It stopped by the ashen fire pit where a girl that I hadn't seen before wearing the same outfits as the huntresses was standing. I heard Nico drop to the ground behind me but I walked up to her and the deer.

"Who are you and please tell me you can see the deer too." I said high-strongly. She chuckled and stroked the deer on its head.

"You do look an awful lot like your mother." She verbalized with authority beyond her years.

"Kori," I turned and looked at Nico, "That's Artemis." He whispered urgently between his teeth. I frowned and looked at the kid in front of me.

"No way, this girl?" I pointed at her. Nico looked like he was about to choke.

"It's fine, most think of me as older. You may stand up Nico." She articulated, putting a strand of dark auburn hair behind her ear.

"Now, back to you." She locked her pale eyes with mine.

"How do you know my mom?" I demanded, digging my nails into my palms. Artemis sighed and waved her hand, sending the gold deer away into the woods.

"You may want to sit down." She advised, gesturing to a log by the now dead fire. I crossed my arms, why do Greek gods feel the need to be mysterious?

"Thank you, Lady Artemis." Nico said as he pulled me over to a log. Artemis sat down with regal grace across from us.

"I don't know why you feel resentful, Kori. I haven't even said anything important yet." She articulated.

"Well, you brought up my mom." I said, trying to hide my curiosity, "How do you know her?" I asked roughly, getting a disapproving look from Nico.

"Because your mother was one of my huntresses." I sucked my teeth, my brain shot off in a million directions. My mom was a huntress?

"You've heard her name, Lydia Mikos. I assured her that you would have her maiden name." She grinned softly at the little pun she'd made. When I was about 9 my class had to look up the meanings of our names, mine was Greek for 'maiden'. I scowled.

"How did you assure that?" I seethed. I could feel Nico scooting slightly away from me. Artemis raised her chin.

"I found you a social worker and we gave you to her. Lydia couldn't keep you with us. This is no life for a growing child." She made a wide gesture from the canvas tents to the woods.

"How do you know what's good for a child? I could have been with my mom; I could have actually known her! How dare you!" I yelled, jumping up from my seat. I was beyond enraged, how could she make my mom give me up?

"I am the guardian of children and you better know your place, Korinna." She barked fiercely. I felt my face get hot but refused to sit back down. Somewhere I heard some of the huntresses rush out of their tent but my eyes were locked on Artemis' pale yellow iris'.

"Kori, sit. Down." Nico ordered, tugging my wrist. I slowly sat back down and crossed my arms.

"A child needs a home. I remember Atlanta, I helped care for her, she was a great hunter but she was cocky and pretentious because of her up bringing. I blame myself. I convinced Lydia it was what was best for you. My father broke her heart and I pitied her. I welcomed her here and promised that I would protect you. Hence why my golden stag appearing whenever you were in trouble or why you were always able to leave any bad home." Artemis explained. Slowly, my anger ebbed away into melancholy. When she'd finished her story, I stared at my hands. I heard her walk over and put a hand on my shoulder.

"I thought that she'd be able to meet you by now. I'm so sorry. I could protect you, but not her. She was brave and she would have been proud of you." She soothed. She took her hand from my shoulder and set it on my head.

"Clio, I expect to see you on Olympus soon, you choose the perfect host." Then, Artemis turned and went to her huntresses. They had their formalities before seeing the goddess off. Thalia came over and gingerly sat to the left of me.

"I was 10 when she died." I said blankly to the ground.

"Kori…" Thalia tried to say something comforting.

"When was the Titan war?" I choked.

"It was at the end of July." She replied quietly. I searched through my mind, trying to remember anything significant from then. But nothing was there. I slammed my face into my hands and started sobbing uncontrollably. It was like being hit with a brick wall, everything came at once. I didn't think I'd care, a month ago I would have almost felt relief just knowing, but I was wrong. I felt Thalia pull me in to a hug and she just stroked my hair and let me cry into her shoulder. We sat there until my eyes ran dry; the sky was a pale green and blue. I looked over and saw Nico wasn't sitting next to us anymore. I really wanted to be by him, I wanted to be by everyone: Mrs. Carson, Jason, Piper, Saph, V, literally everyone. Even Troy.

"Do you need anything?" Thalia asked with her hand on my back.

"I'm pretty thirsty…"I said hoarsely, wiping my nose on the jacket sleeve. One of the huntress' handed me a metal canteen and quietly walked away, leaving us alone. I took a sip and stuck the canteen against the log.

"This really sucks." I said, throwing a nearby pebble. Thalia smiled sadly and picked up a rock next to her foot.

"No arguments there," she hurled it into the forest, birds cried with alarm and flew from the treetops, "I wish I could tell you that this sort of thing doesn't happen often, but I can't. Life's full of crap." She concluded. I whipped my head and furrowed my eyebrows.

"I thought you were going to say something really deep and philosophical that would make me feel better." I complained. She chuckled and looked up at the pastel sky.

"Well, I personally think that it's good to feel and experience every emotion. It reminds you that you're still alive." She looked back at me with eyes that sparked with hope. Her eyes were old, ancient even. They had seen things, they had lived through things I couldn't imagine and they had survived.

"What do you think about your mom though?" She asked with a corner of her mouth pulled up. I looked at my dirt-stained toes and wiggled them for a moment, trying to sort through and articulate exactly what I thought into words.

"She had to be one bad-ass woman who went down with a fight." I announced with pride. Thalia laughed and picked up another pebble.

"Damn right she was." She agreed, chucking the stone towards the rising sun. I smiled and rested my head back on Thalia's shoulder.

"Thanks." I said.

"You're better now then?" she asked.

"No, but I will be." I answered, looking up at the sky.


	23. Saph pov

So the huntresses showed up after Troy and I had found all of our supplies in the woods. Thank gods they had a medic! Thalia was able to pull up an iris message back to camp so I finally got to talk to Percy after a week. I really missed him and camp and started feeling homesick when his face appeared.

"Saph! How are you all doing? Is everyone ok? Are you ok?" he bombarded me with the generic caring brother questions.

"Oh yeah, I lost a leg but it was just a flesh wound." I joked, making him pout.

"I'm serious. Is everything going ok? I mean, for being in Europe and all." He said seriously. I took a deep breath and began to weave the story about England, Paris, and Thamrys.

"Thamrys? I thought he was dead?" he stated, shocked. I shrugged,

"I thought so too, but here he is. I thought he repented after the muses took his talent. Can you and Annabeth do some research please? We don't know what we're up against. Plus he's just creepy." I shivered. Percy opened his mouth to say something, but I cut in.

"How is Annabeth doing anyways?" I asked, trying to show him that I was sorry for the way I had acted. I mean I don't know if I'll see either one of them again, that thought hit me like a bag of bricks. He chuckled and smiled.

"Wanna talk to her?" he waved someone over and Annabeth slid onto the couch next to him.

"Hey, Saph." She greeted warmly. I waved and smiled sheepishly.

"So, have you guys done any planning for the wedding yet?" I asked, rocking on my heels.

"Uhh, not really. It would feel weird planning a wedding with you over there." Annabeth replied with an anxious chuckle. I blew a piece of my bangs out of my face.

"Well stop that! I'll be back soon, get a move on!" I ordered them with a cock of my hip. Both of them laughed heartily.

"Well, if the boss lady said to do it, then it looks like we've got no other choice." Percy conceited. Just then, Thalia opened the flap and told me that V an Jacob were back to camp.

"You'll hear from us a little later." I assured them as I walked out of the tent. I ran out to V and gave her a hug, noticing that she and Jacob were holding hands. I so called it! I shot her an evil smirk as we let go of each other.

"Soo, did you find everything you were looking for?" I teased, taking a bag from her hand.

"Yeah, I think we're set." She replied with a killer look in her eye.

"I'm gonna take this to our stuff." She said, picking up a bag of dry goods as I pointed out which of the tents was ours. After she'd walked into a tent I raised an eyebrow at Jacob.

"So, you two a thing now?" I asked slyly. Jacob's ears turned a bright red and smiled tightly.

"Well, uh, we decided to wait until this whole thing was over, but yeah I think we are." He answered, rubbing the back of his strawberry colored neck. I smiled in evil satisfaction.

"What about you and Troy?" he asked, returning to his normal pigment. I tightened my hands into fists and looked down.

"Ah, the "I wanna make out with you but I'm to scared to" stage still has a grip on you." He taunted. I giggled and gave him a punch in the shoulder.

"I'll make out with Troy when you and V go on a date." I teased back. V walked out of the tent with her head tilted slightly upward and very pleased with herself.

"Was the bag really that heavy?" I joked. She smiled and rolled her eyes as the two of us went to check on Kori. She was fine and dandy once we gave her a granola bar, crazy kid. We walked her over to the tent Thalia was in and just hung out until dinner was all done. I'd have to say that this was the best day I've had in a long while.

Thanks to Troy's big mouth, he got stuck with dishes and then managed to rope me into helping him. The dusk sky was a dusty purple and teal as we made our way to a creek.

"So what did we learn today?" I teased, sitting back on a rock.

"Don't be sexist around super feminists?" he suggested, sticking a bowl into the trickling water.

"How about you just don't be sexist?" I suggested, making the water splash his face.

"Hey!" he cried, throwing a bowl full of water at me, which I sent right back to him like a ping-pong ball. He sputtered the water out of mouth and we laughed. The laughs died and we sat there in a moment of silence. I cleared my throat, I don't know if we're all going to get back to camp, better say it now.

"So, Troy. We almost kissed back in Germany." I said quietly, hugging my knees. He looked up from his work for a moment.

"Yeah, yeah we did." He said distantly as he hunched back over the creek.

"No, I'm serious," I said, getting up to sit next to him. "This is kinda a big deal."

"We've kissed plenty of times," he assured, planting a peck on my cheek, "See? No big deal." Excuse me?

"Are you serious right now?" I exclaimed indignantly. Troy dropped the bowl next to his foot.

"I mean one almost kiss isn't as important as all the others." He defended.

"What the hell? Yes, it's way more important than the others! We've never actually kissed-kissed!" I yelled.

"Saph, calm down. I didn't know it'd offend you." He raised his hands up.

"You should have!" I snapped, crossing my hands.

"Ok, sorry. Would it make you feel better if we kissed-kissed?" he teased playfully, raising an eyebrow.

"No! Oh my gods can you take anything seriously? This isn't a joke Troy! Why do you always do this?" I practically screamed. He lowered his eyebrows and stood up.

"I do take things seriously, just not this kind of thing!" he argued.

"Oh, so you don't take this seriously?" I pointed to the both of us.

"No, yes! Gods, Saph, why do you always do this?" he groaned, running his hands through his chestnut hair. I raised my eyebrows and stuck my hands on my hips.

"Do what, Troy? Try to have a serious conversation about us? Well, gee I'm sorry." I spat sarcastically.

"You overreact at the littlest things! Lighten up!" he yelled. I felt my throat tighten and my eyes began to feel hot.

"Little things, huh? Fine. If we're just a "little thing", then I'm done." I cracked. He raised his eyebrows when he realized what I meant.

"No, Saph." He eyes were sad and scared, "That's not what I meant." He said quickly, reaching out to touch me. I jerked away and blinked the water from my eyes.

"No, I'm done. We're done." I croaked, rushing away, leaving him in the dark.

I went straight to our tent when I got back to camp without Troy. I curled up in my sleeping bag, not bothering to take my jeans off, and cried silently. I was furious, I wanted to hate him so bad, but I couldn't. I eventually ran out of tears and fell asleep with, whom else to greet me, Urania standing in front of me.

"What do you want?" I quipped, rubbing my eyes despite them being dry. Urannia furrowed her brow.

"I suppose you had a bad day." She stated quietly. I looked around at the space around us; it looked like a sick and dying universe.

"Well, I'm here. You might as well tell me what you wanted." I conceited, hugging my arms. I wasn't in the mood for any detrimental news. Urania took a heavy, solemn breath.

"I won't make this gentle, mind you." She warned.

"Just tell me." I sighed, exhausted. She sighed again before looking me in the eye.

"You're going to die." The words struck me like an ice pick.

"Wha…" the thought died in my mouth. I felt my knees quiver.

"What do you mean?" I squeaked. Urania looked at me with all of the sadness of the universe.

"I'm sorry Sapphirra. I can't do anything for you. It's best if you said your goodbyes." She stated softly.

"No! No I'm not going to die." I tried to convince myself. The stars around us began to die and shined with red light. Urania looked at her crumbling world.

"Sapphirra, your…passing, will be much like these stars." Her voice decayed with each word.

"It will be your brightest moment, a moment for all records." She tried to assure me.

"No! I don't care if I'm remembered! I'd rather live a dull, boring life where nothing happened then be remembered because of her death. No!"" I screamed. She stood from her invisible pedestal and strode over to me.

"I am so sorry." She whispered, placing her white hand on my cheek. And just like that, she was gone, and so was my life.


	24. V pov

The morning came too fast in my opinion.

"Hey, V. Time to go." I woke to Kori shaking my shoulder. I groaned and grudgingly sat up.

"Wow, nice bed head. Now come on, everyone else is already packed up." She chimed, turning to leave.

"Mmmmnnnnn. You heard her Saph." I mumbled, turning to where her sleeping bag was but apparently she was part of the "everyone". I ran a comb through my hair and slipped a pair of shorts on before heading out of the tent. The huntresses were talking to the rest of our group when I met up with them.

"Here," Thalia said, handing me a paper envelope while the other girls handed backpacks to Troy, Saph and Nico. "These are train tickets to get you to Croatia. We can't guarantee your safety after that but it's the best we can do." She said seriously.

"Thanks. Will the train station in that little town take these?" I asked. She nodded before turning to Kori.

"If you ever need anything, let me know." She offered, ruffling her hair. Kori smiled and gave her sister a hug.

"Thanks, I will." She assured her. We said our goodbyes and headed to the small town. A little ways into out walk, I looked over at Saph and twisted my lips. She'd been quiet since we left camp and was looking sick.

"Hey, you ok?" I whispered to her. She looked up from her shoes with empty eyes.

"No, no I'm not." She whimpered. I jumped next to her and wrapped an arm around her.

"What's wrong?" I asked, worried. She looked up at Troy, who jerked his head away with a red face.

"I'll tell you later, I don't want to say it with everyone around." She said just barely above a whisper. I narrowed my eyes, determined to kill Troy at an undisclosed time after we reached Helicon. About 15 minutes later, we reached the town and had to take another 5 to find the station. Once we arrived I decided to find out what was wrong with Saph.

"Hey I'm gonna run to the bathroom." I announced, dragging Saph behind me. I slammed the door behind us and stuck my hands on her shoulders.

"What's going on, Saph? Is it Troy?" I interrogated as civilly as possible.

"No, well I mean he's part of it, but it's not important." She sniffed. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

"I'm gonna die." She said quickly. I felt my stomach drop past my feet.

"Urania came to me last night and told me, V. I'm going to die." She cried. I froze, not knowing what to say.

"She didn't say when you would die, did she?" I stuttered. Saph shook her head.

"No, but she sure made it sound like it was going to be sooner than later." She sighed, wiping her nose.

"Ok, no. We're not going to let you die, ok?" I said, panicked. My mind was racing with all the possibilities.

"You're going to take a back seat on all the fighting, clear? Troy is going to have to be glued to you at the hip though, I'll let you kill him later but he can keep you from dying." I said She nodded.

"What can that idiot do?" she hiccupped. I grimaced for a moment before remembering that I wasn't anyone's keeper anymore.

"Troy has healing powers from Apollo. That's how my shoulder was fine after the sphinx." I confessed. Her face grew red.

"And he didn't tell me? UHG! That spineless, sniveling…" she huffed and rubbed the space between her eyes.

"You know what, never mind. It doesn't even matter anymore." She rubbed her face, trying to calm down.

I pushed a curl behind my ear, unsure of what else to do.

"Should we tell the others?" I asked, rubbing my face.

"No, we don't need another distraction from the quest." She said seriously.

"But this is your life we're talking about here, Saph!" I cried.

"Yeah but you and Kori need to make it to Helicon with or without me. If I make it there, great. If I don't, I won't care because I'm dead!" she joked darkly. I looked at my best friend, her fire had been dulled and she looked like the weight of the world was on her shoulders. I grabbed her and pulled her into a tight hug.

"You can't die." I choked.

"I don't want to either." She whispered.

The train ride was quiet. Neither me or Saph really wanted to talk so the others just sort of did their own thing. I looked at Saph, her green eyes stared absently out the window. She can't die, I thought. The conductor's voice gurgled something in German as we turned into a tunnel. The train went dark for a few moments before we came through to a rocky valley.

"Hey," Jacob said, sliding next to me. "Is Saph ok?" he whispered, trying to be polite. I felt a stab of grief hit my heart.

"No, I don't think so." I said, slumping my head onto his boney shoulder.

"Think I should talk to her?" he offered. I smiled and patted his face with my hand.

"No, I'll talk to her." Just as I had said that, the train's breaks were pulled and we slowed to a stop on a broad cliff-side.

"What's going on?" Kori asked, looking out the window. A soft beep played over the intercom.

"Due to technical difficulties, we are currently not operating. We ask that all passengers please remain seated and calm." A tranquil voice announced.

"Well, this means that we should definitely not remain sitting." Troy said, throwing his backpack over his shoulder.

"The huntresses said that we'd be fine until we reached Croatia though." Nico said.

"They also think its ok to throw spoons at people, now come on. Help me find the emergency switch or something." Troy stated, searching for a red box.

"Well they also think that men are the face of evil." He chided, pulling the release for the door.

"Are you crazy?" I yelled over the wind. He grinned and stepped out of the door.

"A little! There's a service tunnel for employees, we'll be fine." He assured up, heading towards a rock camouflaged door.

"Do we have to go underground?" Kori asked, grabbing Nico's arm. He ruffled her hair and pushed her out the door. I grabbed both Saph and Jacob's hands and lead them out last. This is seriously giving me a bad feeling.

"So wise one," I snapped at Troy, "Where are we going?"

"Well clearly we're heading out of the mountain." He huffed as he came to an abrupt stop. We'd come to a fork in the concrete labyrinth.

"Great." I hissed.

"We're going to have to split up." Troy decided, heading to the right.

"No way! That'd be stupid!" Jacob interjected, grabbing Troy's elbow.

"This isn't like capture the flag, we're in actual danger. We need to stay together if we want to stay safer." He finished. Troy jerked his arm away and glared.

"You don't think that I know that? If we split up we can find the exit faster, it's worth the risk." He insisted.

"I'm for the fast way out!" Kori chimed in.

"Guys, we're not splitting up. Better to be stuck here longer then dead." I said, stepping in front of Troy, dragging Saph behind me. We were quiet for a while until we finally say a dull red light glowing above a metal door.

"See? No big deal." I said, pushing the door open to reveal a rocky valley.

"Ooo, yeah. Rock climbing." Troy sneered, stepping around me.

"Ok, asshole." I growled, kicking him in the shin. Just as Jacob was about to step out of the door, a giant shadow blocked out the sun.

"Watch it!" he yelled, tackling Saph and I out of the way just as the griant rock hit the side of the mountain. I heard Kori and the boys yell as the wall collapsed and covered the door with rubble.

"Nico!" I shouted, throwing a few of the rocks to the side.

"What a shame, I thought they'd make it out." A voice above me sighed. Thamryis was lounging on an outcrop, a smoldering cigarette dangled from his hand.

"Can't you just leave us alone? We were having a perfectly miserable time without you butting in." I yelled, throwing a rock at him. He raised his hands to the side and shrugged.

"I didn't throw the boulder, though I am flattered that you think I'm that strong." He sucked the end of his cigarette and blew a smoke ring.

"Like you didn't orchestrate it." Jacob scoffed. Thamryis threw his head back and laughed like a jackal.

"Nope, but those guys may have." He pointed behind us. I felt a prickling sensation work its way up my neck, something wasn't normal about whatever we was about o attack us. A reptilian squeal ripped through the air. A dark, smoky blur flew over the cliff and rammed itself straight into Troy.

"Troy!" Saph yelled, lunging after him. He tumbled down the cliff side before grabbing a dead tree growing from the rocks.

"A little help!" He coughed, clawing his way onto the outcropping. Saph pulled him up as she drew her sword..

"Where'd it go?" She yelled, widening her stance. The prickling feeling intensified, What is this?

Out of nowhere, a screech exploded in my ear and I was in the air. I yelped and shot my head up towards my attacker. She had leathery wings that shook off ash and smoke every time they moved. Her face was gaunt and the color of bone. My stomach dropped when I recognized her.

"Keres! Saph, run!" I yelled, beating Keres' clawed hands. Her laugh sounded like sand gushing from a bag.

"Funny how a child of Hades is so scared of a death daemon." She hissed wickedly.

"Go to Tartarus!" I yelled, bending her fingers back. She screeched and dropped me about a hundred feet from the ground. I landed hard on the cliff and when I tried to stand, a shot of white hot pain coursed through my leg. I sucked my teeth and pitifully ran towards Saph and Troy.

"Are you ok?" Saph asked, wrapping an arm around me for support.

"What is that thing?" Toy demanded, notching an arrow.

"It's a Keres." I gulped, feeling the blood drain from my face.

"You mean those hags of violent deaths?" Troy responded, aiming an arrow at the sky. I heard Saph take in a sharp breath.

"No one is dying today," I assured her, pulling out my bow. "Not if I can help it."

Keres' cackle echoed through the valley, each repeat crueler than the last.

"Where'd she go?" Troy grunted, turning at every sound. Her laugh exploded above us and in a flash of smoke, shoved Saph away from us. She slashed the inky smoke where Keres had been moments ago when another cloud appeared behind her and sent her flying towards the edge. I lunged at her and grabbed her wrist before she fell off.

"You're ok, you're ok." I soothed. Troy yelled and launched an arrow at her but she evaporated into smoke before it made contact.

"Silly heroes, death comes for everyone. Some just aren't as nice." She teased from somewhere unseen.

"Come out and fight, you coward!" I roared, grabbing an arrow from my quiver. And, of course, I got what I asked for. Keres exploded from a cloud and shoved me off the cliff. Her claws dug into my shoulders; I yelled and spat in her face. She growled and threw me onto the ground. My bow went spinning off the landing and my arrows scattered from my quiver. Just as she lunged for me I grabbed a loose arrow and shoved it through her leg. Keres howled and disappeared in a smoke cloud, my ichor covered arrow fell to the ground. Troy and Saph skidded down the cliff and helped me up.

"How were you able to hurt her? She's so fast, even my arrow couldn't get to her." Troy said, pulling me up. Saph picked up one of my arrowed and furrowed her brow.

"I think we have to get her when she's about to attack. We might be able to catch her by surprise." She suggested gravely.

"It's not ideal, but it'll have to work." I answered, feeling my necklace return to my neck. Keres roar cut through the valley; we waited for Keres next attack, armed with arrows.

"There!" Saph yelled, pointing up to Keres.

"No, there!" Troy pointed in the complete opposite direction.

"There's more than one!" I yelled, releasing an arrow in the direction of Saph's Keres. It punctured her wing and sent her spinning down into the valley when another cloud of charcoal smoke appeared in the place where the previous daemon had been.

"One for each of you!" Thamryis's voice called from above us.

"Why aren't they going after you?" I hissed, notching an arrow. I saw his cigarette fall next to my foot.

"Technically, I already died a terrible death, you're all fresh meat." He chuckled. Just as I was about to yell at him to stuff it, smoke blinded me and I was sent flying to my left. Just as I tried to stand up, rocks came crashing down onto my foot. A scream came from my mouth as I tried wiggling loose. Keres squealed and clawed at my face. I shoved an arrow at her chest, her claw slashed the arrow away from me and brought her other claw down on me. I yelped and grabbed an adjacent rock and tried to defend myself. She hissed and somehow was able to grab both of my wrists, she grinned maliciously.

"No way out, little hero." She taunted.

"Hey, ugly!" I heard Saph yell. Keres snapped her head to the side as Saph rammed into her like a linebacker. Keres grunted and let my wrists go as they fought. Keres writhed trying to shove Saph away from her, but Saph drew her sword and kept slashing her until they were by the edge.

"Saph, STOP!" I cried, trying to get my foot from under the anvil-like rock. Saph grunted and hit her with the flat part of her sword, sending her off the side of the cliff. Saph panted, stepping away from the side. I breathed a sigh of relief. She chuckled and turned towards me.

"Well that wasn't so-" The Keres that we thought Saph had sent to Hades suddenly shot up and grabbed her. Saph yelled and tried to shake out of Keres grip. Troy sprinted towards her and reached for her. Saph gripped Troy's wrist but continued being dragged until her legs were dangling off the side.

"Saph! Hang on!" I yelled as the rock finally rolled off my foot. Troy's face was pinched as he tried to keep Saph from falling. I scooped up my bow and notched an arrow and shot it at Keres' face. She squealed and disintegrated into sand. Troy sighed with relief and began pulling Saph onto the landing. Just as Saph was about to hike the rest of her body over, one of the Keres' scream boomed from behind us and yanked Troy back without warning. Saph gasped disappeared from my sight.

"SAPH!"


End file.
